RadMark is jointly owned by Kagiso Media and Paris-based Lagardère Active Radio International (“LARI”), one of Europe’s largest radio owners. RadMark has previously been regarded exclusively as a leading radio sales house in South Africa. However, under the leadership of its newly appointed managing director, it is repositioning itself to become the leading marketing solutions provider in Africa in order to accommodate new media opportunities which are emerging as a result of the convergence of media platforms driven by technology.

RadMark currently generates the bulk of its revenues and profits from representing strong regional radio brands, and it will continue to do so in the short term. However, as the environment in which it operates starts to shift, it will increasingly develop its capacity to sell the radio stations’ online assets while it continually repositions itself to capitalise on new opportunities that emerge from South Africa’s digital migration process. It is in the process of establishing a digital marketing division called DigitalMark to market opportunities on web and mobile media.

RadMark, like its peers in print and other media, was subjected to a sharp contraction in advertising spending, especially in the second half of the financial year. Certain advertising categories that have traditionally been radio mainstays were severely affected by the downturn. In certain instances advertising moved to national radio driven by the lower cost of reaching a thousand listeners (CPT/CPM), and to television media, as marketers chose to spend their limited budgets on a single medium.

RadMark’s response to the market contraction has been to restructure its national sales force and to design a new pricing strategy. This should result in an increased take up of inventory to better position RadMark should the tough business environment persist.

The stations represented by RadMark increased their rates by an average of 11% with Jacaranda 94.2, East Coast Radio and Heart 104.9 going up by 9%, while iGagasi 99.5 and Kaya FM’s rates rose by 14% and 15% respectively from the beginning of the 2010 financial year. OFM will publish its new rate card in October 2009.