BINESH BABU PANICKER, FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF PROPERTY TIME, CATCHES UP WITH JOSHUA BUSTEED, CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, ARABIAN RADIO NETWORK (ARN)
Over the past decade, how significant has the real estate sector become for ARN?
About eight or nine years ago, real estate made up maybe 5% of our total business. Today, it’s closer to 20–25%. That reflects the industry’s overall growth. There are far more developers now than seven or eight years ago — and certainly an incredible number of brokerages. If you listen to any of our stations today, you’ll hear not just the traditional 30‑second spots, but also brand‑funded shows where brokers talk directly to listeners about industry challenges, answer questions, share data, and help people make informed decisions.”
What makes radio storytelling so powerful for developers?
“It’s an exciting time with a wealth of stories to tell. There’s a wave of new developers and projects. As you’ve pointed out before, many people don’t actually know much about the developer — their history, their credibility, or even the exact location of a project.
Our strength lies in providing a multi‑platform storytelling space — on‑air, podcasts, social media, and even out‑of‑home — so end users can feel confident they’re dealing with someone established, balanced, and reliable in their investment journey.”
ARN often touts audio as a call‑to‑action medium. How does that translate into real estate campaigns?
“At its core, audio has always been a call‑to‑action medium — and we believe we do it better than anyone. I can give you multiple examples from recent years where we’ve launched developer campaigns and, within a week, been asked to ‘pull, pull, pull’ because they’d sold out.
A three‑week campaign suddenly becomes an eight‑day one. Do we take some credit? Yes. Does it also reflect the city’s market momentum? Absolutely. We sit right in that call‑to‑action sweet spot.”
You reach across nine brands — in English, Arabic, Malayalam, Hindi and more. How do you tailor campaigns for different language audiences?
“When an advertiser gets it just right — speaking to customers in their own language, on their own station, in their own environment — the results can be exceptional.
Take Malayalam, for example: if a non‑Indian business speaks to that audience in Malayalam about an opportunity, the response is tremendous. There’s great respect for that approach. Multi‑language strategies, done well and respectfully, are a must for developers.”
Radio, digital, out‑of‑home — how important is integrated campaigning?
“I’m obviously biased, but I don’t believe any single platform is the magic answer. The best outcomes come from combining them. For me, the perfect scenario is someone driving on Sheikh Zayed Road, passing one of our billboards — say, a Meraas project at D3 — while their car radio is telling the story of that very project. Then they go online to learn more. Which channel drove the action? All of them played a part.”
For developers watching budgets, is radio truly affordable?
“Absolutely. By global standards, our pricing is very competitive. A large developer investing $250,000–$300,000 over six to ten weeks could see major returns — potentially half the profit from a single one‑bedroom unit — while reaching millions.
We also amplify campaigns visually through station social channels, showing project imagery, and even having our talent do on‑site walkthroughs.”
Beyond developers and brokers, who else do you partner with to grow real estate marketing?
“We work extensively with Bayut and Property Finder — the two biggest aggregators right now. They’re entirely digital businesses, but they use us to deliver messaging, storytelling, and traffic to their platforms, which in turn benefits developers and brokers.
We’ve also got major strategies in the pipeline for later this year that will take these partnerships to the next level.”
Finally, how does ARN see its role evolving alongside Dubai’s real estate sector?
“Our commercial footprint mirrors the wider community — and in Dubai, real estate is at the heart of it. We now have shows across multiple stations featuring real estate companies discussing market trends and data.
We partner with developers to bring those conversations to audiences, making ourselves part of the fabric of the industry. Our growth will continue — but in a sustainable, strategic way.”
