DMRC to play audio ads in some trains on Violet Line on experimental basis

Audio-based marketing has emerged as a revenue model for some metro networks over the last few years.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will soon start playing audio advertisements on six trains on the Violet Line as a pilot project for a year, officials said.

The audio advertisements will be played on six trains on the DMRC Violet Line (FILE PHOTO)

The advertisements, to be played between announcements on upcoming stations on the Kashmere Gate-Badarpur route, shall be aired on an experimental basis for a year from this month. “Based on the feedback received from this pilot project, this revenue-generating avenue may be expanded to other lines as well,” said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications at DMRC.

The concept of in-train audio advertisements was proposed by a firm run by Shammi Narang, who voices the male announcements made in the metro over the past two decades.

“His (Narang’s) firm has been providing in-train and in-station audio content to Delhi Metro for the last two decades and shall be implementing this new project, that is in-train audio advertisements, in association with DMRC,” Dayal said, adding that the ads will be placed between mandatory service announcements.

Audio-based marketing has emerged as a revenue model for some metro networks over the last few years. For instance, Line 1 of the Mumbai Metro (Versova to Ghatkopar) plays audio advertisements between announcements.

Officials said Delhi metro services, which were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, resumed in phases with several restrictions. “Therefore, the revenue-generating streams available to DMRC were constrained to a large extent,” said a metro official.

Officials said the audio advertisements were among the steps being taken by the metro to augment revenue from non-ticketing sources.

“Co-branding of stations and the launch of the ‘Momentum 2.0’ app are other such measures that have already been taken in recent times,” the official added.

Commuters, however, cautioned that DMRC will have to find the right balance.

Muskan Nanda, 24, who uses the Delhi metro to commute between Subhash Nagar and Gurugram for work, said the metro should also ensure such advertisements are not repeated too frequently.

“If an advertisement is played in between, I don’t think people will mind it too much. If multiple advertisements are played back-to-back and the frequency is high, it may annoy some,” she said, adding that it may also make it more difficult to focus on the announcement on the upcoming stations.