No rates increase for East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM

Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on businesses in South Africa and disrupted the country’s economy.

Brands – big and small – have been forced to reevaluate their advertising spend at a time when communicating with their audience is vital.
East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM understand that all sectors are struggling financially.

The Kagiso Media-owned radio stations hope the decision not to increase their rates from 1 July 2020 to 30 September 2020 will help brands rebuild and remain top of mind during the lockdown.

East Coast Radio’s commercial manager, Malani van Huyssteen, said: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, we are adapting and evolving our pricing approach because we understand that businesses have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Advertisers will benefit from buying ECR at the FY20 price.”

Radio remains a popular advertising medium during the coronavirus pandemic. Surveys conducted by Jacaranda FM and East Coast Radio show that listeners are not only consuming more radio than they did before the crisis, but they are also spending more hours tuning in – in many cases for more than six hours a day.

The survey results also showed that listeners were consuming multiple content types on multiple platforms, including the station websites and apps. Podcast and video content also saw a significant increase in downloads.

The pandemic has accelerated the need for businesses to digitise. Radio as a reach medium works well with digital, and East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM are strongly in favour of converged campaigns that make use of all platforms to enhance ROI.

Both East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM will be adding their digital and audio streaming inventory costs to their rate cards for the new financial year.
Jane Ruinard, commercial manager at Jacaranda FM, said: “Creating a fully inclusive rate card will give advertisers the opportunity to view all our rates on one consolidated rate card. Ease of use and access is key to assist with planning a fully integrated campaign.”

Jacaranda FM and East Coast Radio have an ecosystem which is designed for advertisers to leverage all their platforms, enabling advertisers to plan and ensure cohesiveness when buying from the stations.

East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM will review their rates going forward to ensure flexibly with market conditions.