India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has approved new rates for advertisements to be issued on private FM radio stations for its policies and programmes.

The new rates, which have been announced after eight years, include a 43 per cent increase in the base rate taking in to account the rising costs dynamics for the period of December 2015 to March 2023. The move would benefit more than 400 community radio stations across the country.

The pricing formula for finalising the advertising rates takes into account various factors such as city population and listenership data from the India Readership Survey (IRS) of 2019, said a statement issued by the Ministry.

With this increase, the Gross Base Rate for FM radio advertisement will increase from Rs 52 to Rs 74 per 10 seconds.  The adjustment is intended to maintain parity with current market rates. Based on this formula along with the enhanced base rate, almost all private FM radio stations will benefit from the new recommended rates at varying percentages depending largely on their listenership giving value for both FM stations and the clients of Central Bureau of Communication.

Based on this formula the rates for 106 stations will increase by 100 percent, a 50 to 100 percent increase for 81 stations, and a less than 50 percent increase for 65 stations for which listenership data is available.

The Rate Structure Committee for Private FM Radio Stations was set up by the Ministry last year to evaluate and recommend new rates which were last revised in 2015. The Committee submitted its recommendations after holdings several rounds of meetings with industry experts and stakeholders in addition to taking inputs from bodies like Association of Radio Operators of India.