Radio advertising cost in India runs from about ₹100 to ₹1,500 per 10-second spot on private FM in 2026, with Radio Mirchi Mumbai and Delhi at the top at ₹110 to ₹152 a second and Tier 2 stations at ₹10 to ₹30 a second. A focused single-city campaign of two weeks costs ₹75,000 to ₹2.5 lakh before 18% GST, and national multi-station campaigns start near ₹25 lakh. This guide sets out the published rate cards, what the industry’s falling rates mean for buyers, and three worked campaign budgets.
Key points
- Private FM stations quote in rupees per second, so a 10-second spot on Radio Mirchi Mumbai at ₹152 a second is ₹1,520 at list, while a Tier 3 station at ₹10 a second is ₹100. City, not station brand, is the biggest driver of price.
- Radio is a ₹2,300 to ₹2,500 crore medium that is not growing. Pitch Madison put 2025 radio AdEx at ₹2,515 crore, up 2%, while FICCI-EY reported ad revenue down 7% and rates falling. Buyers have leverage.
- There are 388 private FM stations in India and the count has not changed in two years, though networks such as MY FM are still adding Tier 2 and 3 frequencies in 2026. Metro inventory is finite; small-town inventory is expanding.
- Real estate was radio’s largest advertiser category in 2025 at ₹393 crore, followed by auto at ₹299 crore. The medium works for local, time-bound, drive-time decisions.
- The cheapest radio buy is rarely the cheapest spot. Frequency, time band and RJ integration decide whether ₹1 lakh produces recall or noise.
How much does radio advertising cost per 10 seconds?
Indian FM stations price airtime per second and sell it in 10-second units, so every rate card can be read as a per-second figure multiplied by ten. The spread between cities is wider than in any other medium. Media Ant, which aggregates station rate cards, puts the national range at ₹150 to ₹2,500 per 10-second spot, with Radio Mirchi stations at ₹500 to ₹3,000 at the top end.
Published per-second rates for Radio Mirchi make the pattern concrete. Mumbai lists at ₹152 a second and Delhi at ₹110, while Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune sit at ₹50 to ₹55. Patna is ₹30, Jaipur ₹18, Lucknow ₹16, and most smaller towns ₹10 to ₹13 a second, which means ₹100 to ₹130 per 10-second spot.
Competing networks sit a notch lower in the same cities. Red FM lists around ₹100 to ₹750 per 10 seconds depending on market, Radio City ₹100 to ₹700, Big FM ₹50 to ₹600 and Fever FM ₹100 to ₹600. In a city like Indore, minimum campaign spends across Red FM, Mirchi, Big FM and MY FM run ₹3,240 to ₹6,120, against ₹21,600 to ₹22,680 for Mirchi and Red FM in Delhi or Mumbai.
Editor’s note: The published rate is the opening position, and in 2026 it is a weak one. Radio ad revenue fell last year, stations have unsold inventory outside morning drive, and a buyer committing to two weeks at 10 spots a day should expect 20% to 40% off card in most markets. Treat the figures in this article as the ceiling.
What determines radio ad rates in India?
Five variables set the price, and only one of them is the station’s name.
City and station reach. A Mumbai or Delhi frequency reaches 20 lakh or more weekly listeners and prices accordingly; a Tier 3 station reaches a few lakh. Metro rates are ten to fifteen times small-town rates for the same 10 seconds.
Time band. Morning drive, roughly 7 am to 11 am, and evening drive, 5 pm to 9 pm, are the premium bands and typically carry a 20% to 30% surcharge over run-of-schedule. Late night and afternoon slots are where discounts live.
Language and format. In multilingual cities, the regional-language frequency often costs less than the Hindi one and reaches a more loyal audience. Radio Mirchi Bengaluru in Kannada lists at ₹50 a second against ₹48 for its Hindi feed, but the Kannada station claims nearly 50% more listeners.
Spot length and frequency. Stations bill per second, so a 20-second spot costs double a 10-second one. Most planners run 8 to 15 spots a day for at least 10 to 14 days, because radio works on repetition rather than reach.
Integration. A plain spot is the cheapest unit. RJ mentions, show sponsorships, contests and branded segments cost more per occurrence but carry the host’s credibility, and stations increasingly bundle them to protect yield.
What do Radio Mirchi, Red FM and Big FM charge?
Radio Mirchi, run by ENIL, is the network most advertisers ask about and the most expensive in most cities. ENIL’s FY25 revenue was ₹539.7 crore and its profit fell by half to ₹19 crore, with management saying radio advertising had weakened while its Gaana and events businesses grew. That context matters: the network is defending rates on paper while making deals in practice.
Mirchi’s per-second cards run ₹152 in Mumbai, ₹110 in Delhi, ₹50 to ₹55 in Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune, ₹30 in Patna and ₹16 to ₹18 in Jaipur and Lucknow. Media Ant’s aggregated range for the network is ₹500 to ₹3,000 per 10 seconds, with the ₹3,000 figure reflecting premium drive-time positions in Mumbai.
Red FM, owned by the Sun Group, is the strongest challenger in the south and in Delhi and prices just below Mirchi in most markets, with a published range of about ₹100 to ₹750 per 10 seconds. Big FM, under its new CEO Ashit Kukian since late 2025, runs ₹50 to ₹600 and is the most negotiable of the big networks. Radio City and Fever FM sit in similar bands, and regional networks such as MY FM, Suryan FM and Club FM are the value plays in their home states.
How much does a radio campaign cost in India?
Three worked budgets show how the per-second rate turns into a bill.
A south metro product launch. A real estate developer runs a 20-second spot 12 times a day for 10 days on one station at ₹55 a second. That is 10 × 12 × 20 × 55, or ₹1,32,000 at list, and ₹1,55,760 with GST. With a typical two-week negotiated discount, the cash cost lands near ₹1 lakh.
A Mumbai retail promotion. A chain runs a 10-second spot 10 times a day for 14 days on Radio Mirchi Mumbai at ₹152 a second. That is 14 × 10 × 10 × 152, or ₹2,12,800 at list and ₹2,51,104 with GST, for about 140 spots reaching the city’s largest FM audience.
A Tier 2 awareness campaign. A coaching institute in Jaipur runs a 20-second spot 15 times a day for 30 days at ₹18 a second. That is 30 × 15 × 20 × 18, or ₹1,62,000 at list and ₹1,91,160 with GST, for 450 spots over a month.
Agency packages confirm the scale. Published starter packages run ₹75,000 to ₹1.5 lakh for 20 spots a day on one station for a week, ₹2.5 to ₹5 lakh for a 10-day two-station metro campaign with RJ mentions, ₹6 to ₹12 lakh for 25 spots a day across five cities for two weeks, and ₹25 lakh upwards for a 30-day national blitz across 15 or more cities.
Editor’s note: Our planning rule for Hyderabad clients is that radio earns its place only when the message is local and time-bound. A site visit this weekend, an admissions deadline, a sale ending Sunday. For brand awareness with no date attached, the same ₹1.5 lakh buys more measurable reach on connected TV or Meta.
