Industry Gives Cautious Welcome To Evans’ Virgin Move

The advertising industry appears to be giving a cautious “thumbs-up” to the move by Chris Evans to buy Virgin Radio from under the nose of Capital Radio (see yesterday’s Evans Snatches Virgin From Capital).

It seems that agency planners believe, like Richard Branson, that Virgin will benefit more under Chris Evans than it would if owned by Capital. Robert Ray, joint managing director at MediaVest, echoes a general industry consensus when he says that Evans could be “a catalyst to more innovative and involving radio”, though whether the ethos of the new breakfast show can be injected into the whole schedule “remains to be seen”.

Adam Farndell, head of regional media at Optimedia, echoes this, saying that Evans cares passionately about radio and will have a positive effect on the music Virgin plays. At present he believes Virgin plays a “tired mix” and has been underachieving. While Farndell stresses Evans still has to prove his worth, he believes the station will become better under its new ownership.

As far as the sales side goes Ray believes that whilst the industry was reasonably supportive of Capital’s proposed takeover, he thinks the more sales points there are the better: “Since price is firmly on the agenda with many saleshouse conversations right now, it is encouraging that we maintain a separate national buy (along with Talk, Atlantic and Classic).”

Ray also points out that Capital will probably have to go back to the drawing board as far as its national radio plans go, since it would have automatically gained a digital licence if it had taken over Virgin – a “jewel in the crown” which Evans will be keen to use.

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