Xfm Gets Thumbs Up From Agencies
Xfm, the new London alternative-music station, has met with a very positive response so far from advertising agencies. The station launched at midday on Monday with MC5’s ‘Kick Out the Jams’, a suitably alternative and obscure track played by Gary Crowley. In terms of advertisers, Polydor bought the whole of the first ad break with its campaign for the Cast album, while Holsten Pils and Middlesex University also featured on the first day.
Mike Hope-Milne, head of radio at Western International Media, commented that although Xfm had said there would be an element of mainstream music in their repertoire, it was good to hear that the majority of the music played was newer, cutting edge music that was not available on any other station. He went on to say that although this might mean that broader audience figures may be lower than if the station played a higher proportion of mainstream music, “it does reinforce the credibility of the Xfm brand, which I feel is more important when targeting youth brands.”
Hope-Milne did believe however that there was “room for improvement which will come as the presenters grow into the station.” He also pointed out that Xfm was obviously not launching under the most ideal conditions and therefore could not start with as big a bang as it would have liked.
Paul Eden, group media director at the Network, was very impressed with the start Xfm had made, saying that it would do well because it had “the unusual distinction of being distinctive” due to the music on the play-lists. The fact that current rock music was being played came in for special praise as the only place this was previously available was dedicated slots on Radio 1.
Andrew Stephens, a planner at Saatchi & Saatchi, echoed these thoughts by saying that the benefit of that station is that it is likely to take listeners away from Radio 1, with very little “cannibalisation of the Commercial Radio market.” He also believes that many people would listen who do not normally tune into the radio.
A note of caution was struck by Katrina Page at JWT who was concerned by the fact that dance music was played at the Xfm launch party. While this could be classed in some respects as “alternative”, Page said that if dance was to predominate she would rather use Kiss FM for clients’ ad campaigns. She went on to say that the station won the licence because “London needs it” and therefore it should work well. It would also provide a niche, affordable audience for advertisers. The ad campaign for the launch came in for especial praise: Page thought it was humorous, well targeted and well executed.
Other industry sources have said that it will be interesting to see how Virgin and Capital respond if Xfm proves a success: if these stations, with a more established brand, began to include more indie and alternative music, would Xfm be able to survive? Question marks have also been raised as to the ability of Xfm’s main audience, namely young people, especially students, to accurately fill in RAJAR listening diaries.