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<ul><li><keyword id="265974" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sunanda-sharma" source="Orion">Sunanda Sharma</keyword>, Punjabi singer and actress has released her song “9-9 Mashukan'' as <keyword id="4668945" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="nft" source="Orion">NFT</keyword>. </li><li>Fans can purchase partial ownership of the song and interact with the singer. </li><li>Globally, the music NFT marketplace is projected to reach over $42 billion by 2032. </li></ul> <keyword id="14028774" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="fantiger" source="Orion">FanTiger</keyword>, one of India’s music NFT marketplace, launched its debut music NFT with Punjabi singer and actress, Sunanda Sharma, making her the world’s first female Punjabi singer to release a song as an NFT on Friday . According to a <a href="https://www.marketdecipher.com/report/music-collectibles-market">report</a> by <keyword id="14589378" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="marketdecipher" source="Orion">MarketDecipher</keyword>, the global music NFT marketplace was estimated at $1.24 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach a market value of $42 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 27.52 %. Sunanda, the 30-year-old artist, has opened the waitlist for her new song, “9-9 Mashukan”, for fans to reserve their spot on FanTiger.com to invest in her music NFT. This allows fans to purchase partial ownership of the song, get royalty income, exclusive community access, limited edition signed merchandise, and an opportunity to personally interact with the artist. Every music NFT purchased through FanTiger is secured on a blockchain, thus making it safe to own and free from any plagiarism, the company claims. <keyword id="2701048" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="prashan-agarwal" source="Orion">Prashan Agarwal</keyword>, former CEO of <keyword id="-77" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="gaana" source="Orion">Gaana</keyword> and Co-Founder of <a href="https://fantiger.com/">FanTiger</a> said, “Sunanda is leading the way to step into the world of bringing music closer to fans everywhere and living up to her title of ‘<keyword id="7065997" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="boss-lady" source="Orion">Boss Lady</keyword>’ given by her fans.” On launching her first Music NFT, Sunanda Sharma said, “NFTs are a revolutionary technology that has the potential to create a powerful impact on the Indian music industry. I have always been fascinated with the concept of NFTs, and now being able to sell my own is like a dream come true.” The announcement comes shortly after FanTiger’s recent $5.5 million seed round led by <keyword id="6384880" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="multicoin-capital" source="Orion">Multicoin Capital</keyword> in May. The company plans to use the funds raised to grow its team across product, tech, build industry partnerships and onboard more well-known and aspiring Indian artists.

Sunanda Sharma becomes world’s first female Punjabi singer to launch song as NFT

<ul><li>Gaana joins the #MakeInTrend. </li><li>Launches HotShots - a platform that allows Indian content enthusiasts to create &amp; share short viral videos and stories. </li></ul>Short videos are the new buzzword on social media, with both content creators and consumption skyrocketing. To cater to the ever growing appetite of Indians for entertaining short-video, Gaana has launched HotShots - a platform that allows Indian content enthusiasts an intuitive, seamless and snappy tools to create &amp; share short viral videos and stories with more than 150 million strong audience base. <keyword id="9535203" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gaana-HotShots">Gaana HotShots</keyword> offers emerging and established <keyword id="1112328" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencers">Influencers</keyword> an opportunity to migrate to a robust Indian platform and build their own success stories. With the best-in-class product experience and a host of ‘HotShot Challenges’ in the performing arts like music, comedy &amp; dance by HotShot influencers, celebs and international artists, the app would offer both the scale and the infrastructure to reach a massive audience who thrive on digital entertainment. “At Gaana, we have always emphasized on placing the power of digital content creation into the hands of emerging talent. We had launched <keyword id="9535897" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="gaana-vertical-video">Gaana Vertical Video</keyword> platform last year to allow our celebrities / singers to connect with our audience through Short Videos. Today we are building up on that expertise by unveiling the ultimate short video creation and consumption platform ‘Gaana Hotshots’. Our home-grown entertainment super app is ready to serve as the country’s go-to destination for entertainment across music, podcasts, short viral videos and buzz, offering aspiring Indians the power to become influencers in their own right with Gaana’s world-class live streaming &amp; short video capabilities,” <keyword id="9535898" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="prashan-agarwal-ceo">Prashan Agarwal - CEO</keyword>, Gaana said.

Gaana creates a space on its platform for User Generated Content called ‘HotShots’

<ul><li>In our latest interview series, we talk to brands to understand how they are coping with the new normal and their strategies towards navigating these difficult times.</li><li>In today’s interview, Prashan Agarwal, CEO of Gaana tells us how the app has seen a hike in its Monthly Active Users and a few changes in consumer behaviour that he has observed in the last month. </li></ul>COVID-19 has affected every industry. Today is anything but normal. To escape from this gloomy reality, people are looking for ways to cope. While many are finding new hobbies and developing new skills, there's also been a marked behavioural change in the way people are consuming content now. Since everyone is stuck at home, a lot of people are taking their minds off all negativity by consuming content on different OTT platforms. According to an <keyword id="9082075" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Audio-OTT">audio OTT</keyword> report by Kantar and VTION, music streaming apps have also seen a 42% increase in time spent on their platforms in March, 2020. What was otherwise a traveling activity, is now becoming an intrinsic part of people’s everyday ritual, hence shaping consumer behaviour and shifting their listenership patterns. As per the report, audio OTT players have seen a 52% growth in listenership during the afternoons between 2-6 PM and an 80% rise in late-night listening — post-midnight till early morning. The story is no different for Times Internet-backed music streaming app Gaana, which has seen an upsurge in its organic reach. Consumers are tuning in and out at different times across the day and from Bhajan to Chill Out songs, they are also open to exploring new genres of music. Prashan Agarwal, CEO of Gaana further tells us how the brand has tweaked its marketing strategy to fit into today’s unprecedented times and a few measures the brand has taken to do its bit for the society. Excerpts: Q. What kind of changes have you observed on your platform in the last month? As the leader in the music streaming space with more than 150 mn MAU, our organic reach has shot up significantly across all platforms including Android, iOS and the web. We have also registered a surge in demand for pre-curated playlists that users can play in the background as they go about their daily activities. Some of our most popular playlists today - Music For Yoga, Instrumental Flute, Divine Instrumental, Unplugged Melodies, Soulful Acoustics, Chill Out and Awesome Acoustic have seen tremendous growth. Q. What is your marketing strategy right now? How have you been trying to continue building a connection with your audience? Has there been a change in your media mix? Consumers of varied age groups are responding to lockdown in their own different ways. This means that there is greater demand for greater variety and newer kinds of genres. Hence the focus is on greater personalization in our campaigns and showcase of the variety of content across movies and non-movies music, instrumental, devotional podcasts, comedy news, self-help etc. The media mix is dominantly moving towards digital channels to provide such personalization and diverse messaging. Q. What are a few key learnings for you as a brand in the last few weeks? Consumers are exploring a new kind of music and audio content, they're also doing it at newer occasions across the day creating new opportunities for brands like us. There's party music playing in the morning devotional podcasts in the evening and relaxing Zen music in the afternoons. Q. If the lockdown is further extended, will you be tweaking your marketing strategy further? Personalized communication and exploration of new genres and content types have been the mainstay of our media and communication mix. In the event of further extension of lockdown we believe these will continue to be even more important for the consumers. We would continue to cater to the consumer needs while also showcasing personalized recommendation on a regular basis in our campaigns. Q. How has Gaana as a platform been making a difference in terms of spreading awareness during these adverse times? We have partnered with leading non-profit organization Give India to provide life-saving masks to the most vulnerable sections of society during the ongoing lockdown. We are empowering our users to be able to contribute to this noble cause by streaming more music tracks on the Gaana App. We will supply around hundred thousand masks of various types to ensure the protection of such under privileged people.

Marketing in the times of COVID-19: Gaana

<ul><li>After the global streaming platform - Spotify entered Indian market, it has been on an advertising spree. </li><li>Business Insider spoke to Gaana to find out how it is adjusting to new macro-economic changes.</li><li><keyword id="2701048" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="prashan-agarwal">Prashan Agarwal</keyword> told us that music streaming market is wide enough to hold all brands together. </li></ul>Music streaming app Gaana is now leading the market with more than 100 million users who stream across 3.2 billion songs a month. There are around 150 million MAUs in the online music streaming industry and Gaana occupies the major chunk. The application is also witnessing a 100% YoY growth in its <keyword id="160265" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising-revenue">advertising revenue</keyword>. Sharing what kind of advertisers have been investing in Gaana, Prashan Agarwal, CEO Gaana, said, “Foodtech, Video Streaming and OEMs are among the biggest advertisers this quartner, with banner ads featuring voice-over emerging as one of the most popular formats.” However, even after Spotify’s entry in the market with a massive campaign, Gaana continues to hold on its spirit. Agarwal believes that the music streaming market will continue to boom, opening enough space to contain all brands. “Music streaming will see a massive growth in the next two years, with more than 400 million users likely to come online. This massive and diverse user-base can comfortably accommodate a couple of music streaming apps. As the market leader in the sector, we are confident of maintaining our top spot based on our deep understanding of the Indian consumer’s music tastes, our seamless user experience and vast library of over 45 million songs,” said Agarwal. Reason of its Growth After Jio, the music-streaming market saw an immense growth because the internet was suddenly affordable and Agarwal believes that the brand has grown at this pace because of the new, innovative initiatives that they have taken since the inception. “The rapid influx of 4G smartphones and affordable internet connectivity was a major turning point for all consumer internet businesses across the country, including ours. We have grown 10X in the last three years and currently have more than 100 Mn monthly active users. The biggest reason behind this significant growth has been our focus on cutting-edge innovation for the Indian customer with regard to music recommendation and redefining our product experience to serve first-time internet users,” he said. Localization and Innovation Gaana now has a vast 45 million music library spread across 30 Indian languages. The brand holds pride in its deep Indian roots and has been adopting new technologies like AI and Machine Learning to make its application user-friendly for people who speak the local languages. “As of now, 17% of our overall music consumption is solely based on these algorithmic recommendations, are we hope to increase this by more than double in the coming year. Gaana’s Voice Interactive Search is a popular feature amongst tech-savvy urban millennials, while also being of great convenience to elderly users from smaller cities who often have a hard time typing. This feature has been one of the key pillars in facilitating easy access to our vast 45 million music library across 30 Indic languages,” said Agarwal.

Gaana’s Advertising Revenue Continues to See a Stable Growth of 100% YOY

‘<keyword id="-77" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gaana">Gaana</keyword>’, India’s largest music streaming app, has released an <keyword id="2374214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Android-Auto">Android Auto</keyword> version that will allow users to stream their favorite music via <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> Auto compatible phones, vehicles, and aftermarket radios. 
 
Android Auto allows anyone with an Android phone (running 5.0 or later) to use a driver friendly interface to access the key stuff needed on the road ― directions, communications, music, etc. ― without the distraction of things that aren't essential while driving. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/booking-com-is-providing-startups-in-tourism-sector-a-chance-to-go-to-amsterdam/articleshow/57253587.cms">ALSO READ: Booking.com is Providing Startups in Tourism Sector a chance to go to Amsterdam</a> 
 
Gaana is the first Indian music streaming that allows users to experience a non-stop, distraction-free and safe music experience using Android Auto. 
 
Prashan Agarwal, COO, Gaana says, ‘Music is the biggest stress buster when driving, but access to just the right song or station, while simultaneously dodging traffic is not just frustrating, but downright dangerous. Gaana has brought the solution with its Android Auto integration. Allowing you access to your favorite music in a safe and delightful driver-friendly interface – So you can keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel,” laughs Prashan Agarwal, COO, Gaana. 
 
Users can now access their favorite Gaana songs and playlists from their Android Auto app, with a simplified interface, large buttons, and powerful voice actions. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/snapdeals-shopo-shuts-down-roposo-kraftly-see-surge-in-sellers/articleshow/57208653.cms">ALSO READ: Snapdeal's Shopo Shuts Down; Roposo, Kraftly See Surge In Sellers</a> 
 
With full access to their personal music library on Gaana, users can play a song, personal playlist and even search for a song using voice commands. With voice-enabled search, users can access over 15 million songs, 16 radio stations &amp; 1000 other non-stop radio stations based on their mood, driving time, duration, etc. 
 
In the last one year, Gaana has released several new enhancements such as localization, recommendation engines, dual color themes, and added more payment option such as Citrus, Freecharge to continuously improve the music experience of its 50 million plus users. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/uber-partners-with-reliance-jio/articleshow/57254320.cms">ALSO READ: Uber partners with Reliance JIO to allow payments with JIO Money</a> 
 
Music streaming is the 3rd most used service on the Internet and the Indian car market will become 4th largest automobile market in the world by 2020. Therefore, adding Android auto functionality is key to drive engagement amongst car users who largely listen to FM radio today. Gaana’s Android autointegration will provide a safe alternative to such listeners and will further strengthen Gaana’s dominance in the music streaming space.

Gaana - Now available on Android Auto

To set up his new venture, <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> portal <keyword id="2612329" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="PropTiger-com">PropTiger.com</keyword>'s co-founder <keyword id="2701048" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="prashan-agarwal">Prashan Agarwal</keyword> has quit the company which he started four years ago with partner Dhruv Agrawala. 
 

	It could not be known how much stake Prashan Agarwal currently has in the real estate portal and what he plans to do with it. He did not disclose any details about his new venture too. On being asked about Prashan's stake in PropTiger, co-founder and chief executive officer <keyword id="278771" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Dhruv-Agarwala">Dhruv Agarwala</keyword> said: "It is a private matter and we cannot disclose anything." 
	 

	Prashan has quit the company with no decision making powers in PropTiger, Dhruv Agarwala added. 
	 

	Prashan Agarwal told the Economic Times: "I am an entrepreneur at heart and am starting something new." He did not mention how much stake he holds in the company. <keyword id="57162" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rupert-Murdoch">Rupert Murdoch</keyword>'s <keyword id="6492870" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="News-Corp">News Corp</keyword> had recently acquired 25% stake in PropTiger for close to $30 million. PropTiger had announced last month that it has acquired <keyword id="713731" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Makaan-com">Makaan.com</keyword>. It had also acquired a digital interaction design company Out of Box Interaction (OoBI) earlier. 
	 

	Meanwhile, the portal has also announced a change in its senior leadership team. The company has appointed <keyword id="214901" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sunil-Mishra">Sunil Mishra</keyword> as chief business officer. Mishra will be based at the company's Mumbai office. He was previously the chief executive officer of <keyword id="193710" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Karvy-Private-Wealth">Karvy Private Wealth</keyword>. The portal has also appointed <keyword id="345835" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rohit-Hasteer">Rohit Hasteer</keyword> as chief human resources officer. He will be based at the Noida office of the company. <keyword id="2539679" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Neeraj-Chaturvedi">Neeraj Chaturvedi</keyword> has been appointed as chief marketing officer who is joining from <keyword id="253493" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="India-Today-Group">India Today Group</keyword>. The company has offices in eight cities with around 500 employees. 
	 

	"These appointments will help us to consolidate our leadership position in the online real estate space and enable us to build on our strong track record of growth," said Agrawala. 
	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

PropTiger.com’s co-founder Prashan Agarwal quits

Joining the short-video making app race, music streaming service Gaana on Wednesday launched HotShots - a platform to create and share short viral videos and stories with its more than 150 million audience base. According to the company, HotShots offers emerging and established Influencers an opportunity to migrate to a robust Indian platform and build their own success stories. "Our app is ready to serve as the country's go-to destination for entertainment across music, podcasts, short viral videos and buzz, offering aspiring Indians the power to become influencers in their own right with Gaana's world-class live streaming and short video capabilities," Prashan Agarwal, CEO, Gaana said in a statement. With a host of 'HotShot Challenges' in the performing arts like music, comedy, dance by HotShot influencers, celebs and international artists, the app would offer both the scale and the infrastructure to audiences who thrive on digital entertainment. Gaana launched Vertical Video platform last year to allow celebrities/singers to connect with its audience through short videos. "Today we are building up on that expertise by unveiling the ultimate short video creation and consumption platform '<keyword id="9535203" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gaana-HotShots">Gaana Hotshots</keyword>'," said Agarwal. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/elyments-dips-to-3-5-stars-on-google-play-store-heres-what-analysts-believe-indias-new-social-network-needs-in-order-to-be-successful/articleshow/76845819.cms">Elyments dips to 3.5 stars on Google Play Store — Here's what analysts believe India's new social network needs in order to be successful</a>

Gaana unveils TikTok-like short video app 'HotShots'

New Delhi, Feb 3 () Music app Gaana on Monday claimed to have reached 150 million monthly active users on account of growth in consumption of regional and Bollywood music.
 The company had achieved 100 million active users (MAUs) in April last year and has set a target to reach 200 million MAUs by mid-2021.
 "Touching the 150 million users milestone is a testimony to the efforts of our incredible team and our vision to bring the most intuitive and immersive musical experience to our users. This achievement will offer us a stronger motivation to leverage our proprietary AI-driven algorithms and newly launched features in newer ways at greater scale," Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal said in a statement.
 The company said the growth in MAUs came on account of 40 per cent growth in regional music consumption and 35 per cent growth in Bollywood music consumption.
 The sector has seen three times growth in the past two years, and the market is expected to be 400 million monthly active users in the next 2 years, the statement said.
 "Gaana's vast 45 million songs-strong music library across bollywood, international and 30 Indic languages and newly launched 3,000 strong podcast library including 'Gaana Podcast Originals' featuring youth icons hold great promise for sustained organic growth in 2020," Agarwal said. PRS RVK

Music app Gaana reaches 150 mn monthly active users

New Delhi, Dec 2 () Music streaming platform Gaana on Monday said it expects 10 crore podcast streaming per month by March on its platform as it plans to build a portfolio of 3,000 shows in four months, a top company official said.
 Gaana has roped in celebrity Ranvijay Singh, Bollywood actress Sunny Leone, stand-up comedian Zakir Khan and a paranormal investigator Jay Alani for developing the shows, Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal told .
 "The existing numbers (of podcast listeners) are very low. Our idea is to get the consumption up to about 1 to 1.5 per cent and then build from there," he said.
 "Just to give you a perspective, currently, we do about 3.2 billion streams. On the podcasts, we are looking at getting to about 100 million streams. That could be about 10 crore podcast play-outs per month by March," he added.
 The Times Internet Group firm expects to double the number of monthly active users on its platform to 20 crore in the next two years, representing around 50 per cent share of the overall market.
 Gaana has started expanding non-music content to enhance user engagement on its platform and attract new users.
 The company has started focusing on podcasts after getting traction in three genres -- comedy, storytelling and retro Hindi songs.
 "We have launched about 2,000 podcasts or shows. There the marquee shows are -- 'Life Ki Ranneeti' with Ranvijay Singh, Confessions with Sunny Leone, a show with the biggest stand-up comedian in India Zakir Khan, and a show around horror and paranormal activities with Jay Alani," Agarwal said.
 He said the company will focus extensively on the three genres and on building about 20 original shows with 3,000 podcasts under Gaana Originals over the next 4 months.
 "One of the biggest tractions that we see is going to be comedy, followed by shows targeting kids like Tenali Rama, Katha, Panchatantra, and deep stuff Devdutt Patnaik-type shows," he said.
 The podcasts will remain free for listeners and the company will monetise it through advertising supported model, he added. PRS RVK

Gaana plans 3,000 podcasts in 4 months, expects 10 cr streaming per month

<ul><li><keyword id="8423341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="dynamic-creatives">Dynamic creatives</keyword> are customised ads that optimise ROI automatically by providing relevant content for consumers.</li><li>This will enable marketers to create hyper-personalized ads in real time by tagging parts of commercial scripts based on Age, gender, location, weather, time, music preference, device and other 3rd party data to create.</li></ul>Gaana has unveiled new audio ad capabilities that will empower advertisers to talk personally with its listeners by creating contextual audio creatives in real time. This will enable marketers to create hyper-personalized ads in real time by tagging parts of commercial scripts based on age, gender, location, weather, time, music preference, device and other 3rd party data to create and serve relevant ads to more than 150 million Gaana users. <div type="Youtube" id="QQm7IVCUfX0" title="Dynamic Audio Ads" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QQm7IVCUfX0/mqdefault.jpg"></div>

 Gaana’s innovation offers a unique layer of ad personalization to audio that was till now only available with display ads. The brand’s ad engine will leverage a mix of the extensive &amp; highly evolved user-buckets created over the past 10 years and real time data , such as age, gender, location, weather and artist preferences among others to create contextual ads. These finer aspects will help create some of the most dynamic advertising personas in the industry, and the ensuing collaborative process with the client can create thousands — even millions of permutations for each ad creative. Speaking at the launch, Prashan Agarwal, CEO - Gaana said, “Audio streaming is rapidly evolving as an indispensable part of the media mix of most consumer brands across lifestyle, tech and online services among others. As the industry leader, we pride ourselves on having the most comprehensive suite of ad formats that enable our clients to reach their intended audience in a native and experiential setting. To further this agenda, we have launched Dynamic ads with the ability to customize audio creatives based on a target user’s demographic and other crucial psychographic metadata to drive significantly higher brand recall that will offer the crucial edge marketers need in this noisy world.” The Indian music streaming industry is at the cusp of an incredible growth curve as more of us start consuming music online. The sector has seen a meteoric 3X growth in the past two years, and the market is expected to 400 Mn monthly active users in the next 2 years. As the country’s go-to music app with over 150 million users streaming over 3.5 billion songs every month, the ability to target this massive user-base with dynamic programmatic audio capabilities will be a game-changer for the Indian marketing community.

Gaana launches dynamic creatives for audio ads

<ul><li>PWC’s recently released report states that Indian monthly podcast listeners reached 40 million at the end of 2018, which was a 57.6% increase over 2017’s 25.4 million</li><li>Marketers are slowly experimenting with the medium, with the aim of presenting consumers with targeted content</li><li>The coming in of Spotify has helped increase the buzz around podcasts in India</li></ul>Over the past few years, the kind of content consumers are seeking out and accepting has seen a vast change. Today, it is all about engaging content that they can relate to. Content that can be consumed on-the-go has also seen a huge gain in popularity. It is perhaps this evolution that is making podcasts an increasingly favored content medium for consumers. While podcasts enjoy a huge popularity in markets like the US, India is also slowly waking up to it. Now almost all news publications have their own podcasts. Moreover, music streaming platforms that are witnessing a good growth in the country are also increasing their podcast offerings. Even the numbers are encouraging. Research by IAB and PwC stated that US advertisers spent an all-time high of $479 million on podcast ads in 2018, up 53% from $314 million the year prior. While the Indian market is still at a nascent stage in terms of its uptake of podcasts, PWC’s recently released report titled ‘Global Entertainment &amp; Media Outlook 2019-2023 India’, stated that Indian monthly listeners (defined as people who listened to at least one podcast in the last one month) reached a total of 40 million at the end of 2018, which was a 57.6% increase over 2017’s 25.4 million. In terms of consumption of podcasts, India ranks number three, following the US and China. Owing to the growing increase in audio-streaming services in the country, podcasts offer a massive opportunity for brands to reach out to its consumers, where they can target listeners with personalized content. The Story So Far It was in 2016 that Audioboom, a leading audio platform for hosting, distributing and monetizing content was launched in India. That was also the time when Jio had launched in the country and everybody got access to cheap, affordable data. However, that was when video content was seeing an explosion. “There was a lot of focus on video at that point in time and when we went to talk to people about focusing on audio as an on-demand platform, we were scoffed upon. People couldn’t see the opportunity that we could see in the model back then. However, things have become better since the second half of last year. Today, there is a lot more acceptance, people know what we are talking about and they want to hear us out,” says Aman Goklani, Head of India operations, AudioBoom. From 2016, when it received about 200,000 listens a month, the platform has seen a substantial increase in its monthly run rate. “From 200,000 listens in a month in 2016, we today stand at around 1.7 million listens each month. We ended June of this year with about 2.5 million listens. So, we have seen more than 10x growth since we launched,” adds Goklani. While in the larger scheme of things, Goklani maintains that 2.5 million listens is not a very big number, he adds, “A video can get these numbers in probably a few days. However, in our scheme of things, we are the largest, in terms of numbers, in India.” To put things in perspective, globally the UK-based audioBoom gets around 70 million listens in a month, with the US accounting for 60% of its listens. If one were to delve deeper into the reasons for this sudden increase in enthusiasm around podcasts, <keyword id="2904495" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sreeraman-Thiagarajan">Sreeraman Thiagarajan</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), <keyword id="5557033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agrahyah-Technologies">Agrahyah Technologies</keyword> that owns and operates Hindi podcast platform, aawaz.com says that there are several. “India has been an audio-first country for a long time. The term podcast is new in India. However, all our radio stations have been coming up with audio content on their platforms for the longest time. Even in the past, shows like Purani Jeans have always been around. However, the sudden excitement around podcasts is because of multiple reasons. Firstly, global podcast companies are now looking at India. BBC, NPR, Audible, Google podcasts and Spotify have been operating in India for the past 6-7 months and have brought in some excitement,” he says. He also points to the fact that non-music content is picking up pretty well in India. “Imagine you’re in the mood to listen to some devotional content, or want to listen to a horror or romantic story. People consume a lot of content on video but if they are busy and don’t have the time to watch something, they could still listen to content. So that is what is giving us a lot of traction,” he adds. The increasing demand for smart speakers in the recent past has also been an important reason for the growing enthusiasm around audio content. The opportunities ahead Globally, Spotify has been talking a lot about the opportunities around podcasts. It has also been investing a lot on acquiring podcast companies. Closer home, music streaming platforms like Gaana and Saavn are also trying to promote the podcasts that they have to offer. So, what are the opportunities for brands here? Prashan Agarwal, CEO, Gaana says, “Podcasts are a great channel for brands to tap into a highly engaged niche audience. Most savvy marketers understand the difference between top-of-the-funnel and bottom-of-the-funnel campaigns, and appreciate the role for the top-of-mind recall. This is where this genre can serve as a great platform for brand building, with streaming players and publishers helping marketers navigate ways to seamlessly integrate their brands into the narrative.” Gaana runs some popular podcasts on its platform including Mirchi Murga by Naved, Kahanibaaz by Ashish Vidyarthi, Ek Rang Ishq Ka and others. Apart from this, they also source aggregated content from podcast platforms like IVM and Audioboom. Speaking about the opportunities he sees in the medium, Amarjit Batra, Managing Director India, Spotify says, “In India, podcasting is very young, but we see immense potential given the immersive and intimate nature of the medium. Factors such as increase in commute time, higher awareness around streaming, and India’s position as a knowledge economy establish that there is enough scope for podcasts to become mainstream in India. We believe that the future of audio is limitless and the potential growth of podcasts as a new form of audio storytelling is garnering steady popularity amongst the urban audio streamers in India. Our goal is to work with the ecosystem of creators, brands, and partners to address these challenges so that there is a wider understanding and acceptance of this new and relevant medium.” He further adds that while the podcast segment is still at a nascent stage in India, marketers have shown interest in experimenting with the medium. “We've had brands and advertisers show interest because they believe in the audio format for user engagement, and have seen how well podcast advertising works in our other markets.” Meanwhile, podcast network IVM, which is working on popularizing the medium among consumers and marketers, has already worked with brands like PayTM Money, Aditya Birla Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal. Speaking about why brands are seeing value in podcasts, Amit Doshi, Founder &amp; CEO, IVM Podcasts says, “There are two primary opportunities for brands to work with podcasts - promotions on content that is being created and distributed by us and creating their own branded content. We have seen forward thinking brands like PayTM Money, Aditya Birla Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal, Accenture, Storytel, Savaari etc. are already working with us. Increasingly, we are seeing interest from other brands as well in using this space to achieve their objectives.” <keyword id="3054169" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Duggirala">Varun Duggirala</keyword>, Content Chief and Co-founder, <keyword id="2951846" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Glitch">The Glitch</keyword> hosts an IVM Show called ‘Advertising is Dead’ where he speaks to leaders, creators and experts from all ends of the media, entertainment and advertising space to understand the new media world order. On how brands can make the most out of the medium, he says, “Podcasts present a unique opportunity for brands to seamlessly integrate themselves into very focussed content pieces which can be developed and distributed at scale with a much lower cost barrier. Also, advertising within episodes themselves can very easily be blended into the storyline/narrative of the episodes themselves so the value chain of the content imbibes the value chain of the brand. Unlike video content, podcasts allow consumers to blend content into their daily schedule in a way that doesn’t demand 100% focus but still blends into your content consumption habit cycle especially during commutes, mornings/late nights as well as mid-day breaks.” According to industry estimates, currently the cost of podcasts could lie between Rs 4,000-6,000 per minute. So for a lot of marketers looking at reaching out to an engaged audience, podcasts could be a comparatively cost effective option, too. Storytel India has worked on multiple host read campaigns both on IVM and audioBoom. Speaking about the kind of value the brand saw from the partnership, Sukirti Sharma, Marketing Manager, Storytel India, says, “Podcasts hook the listening audience, people who are already in the habit of listening and are familiar with the format. Also, it is somewhat about personalised choices and therefore brings in different kinds of audience. With each genre or discussion type, you attract a different kind of audience ie those interested in history or those who want to listen to the topical issues of the changing culture among the urban Indian. With myriad topics, it attracts diverse listening communities. Podcasts have their own unique space. We are in the business of telling stories and we believe that audio is the future. Podcast is a part of that audio world and has its own unique space so we would certainly use podcasts again in the future.” For the longest time, lack of awareness was a big challenge for the podcast industry. However, with more and more people talking about it, both globally and in India, brands finally seem to be warming up to the medium.

Are Marketers Warming Up to Podcasts in India?

Traditionally, <keyword id="1871871" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="property-listing-sites">property listing sites</keyword> are as drab as telephone directories. They offer huge databases and you simply activate a few filters like type of property, location and budget, and the information gathering is done. The next task is more gruelling, though. One must browse through the list of properties that has popped up post-search, check out if the information is authentic, and get in touch with owners, brokers and property developers to close a deal. In fact, the data burst on property sites is the actual pain point, says an industry expert. But some young <keyword id="428085" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-ups">start-ups</keyword> and not-so-young companies are doing things a bit differently, to take the long hours and the guesswork out of the house-hunting process. Check out these 5 Indian sites that stand out because of their innovative (and tech-dependent) approach. 
 
<keyword id="35061" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="housing">Housing</keyword> – credibility is the key: Set up by a group from IIT Bombay, this one-year-old start-up has a penchant for innovation. Housing started by listing the apartments for rent in Mumbai. But it has seen some fast growth and currently operates in 7 cities – also listing flats for sale. Its USP is data curation as an in-house data collection team makes sure that every apartment is geo-coded and every bit of information is genuine (you get all the essentials such as photographs, rent amount, locality rating and amenities available while some of the properties up there are the site’s exclusive). Housing has recently introduced a ‘land classifieds’ section that will allow farmers and villagers to list and sell their land assets. A bold move from an urban firm, especially as it wants to cover as many as 10,000 villages. 
 
Funding: Housing has already reached break-even in Mumbai and raised $2.5 million from Nexus Venture Partners besides securing two rounds of angel funding from several investors. 
 
<keyword id="1871872" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Flat-to">Flat.to</keyword> – niche offering: Another start-up from Mumbai, set up in April 2013 by Gaurav Munjal, but this one only caters to students looking for apartments, room-mates or PG accommodations in and around their educational institutions. Some featured colleges are already up on the site and one can check out what all they offer (from nearby flats to brokers and flat owners, it seems). Otherwise, you can check in and input your college name, and the company will get back with relevant information. After Mumbai, the start-up will expand its operations in other university cities like Pune and Bangalore. 
 
Funding: Till date, Flat.to has raised undisclosed angel funding from Aakrit Vaish, director of the mobile app analytics firm Flurry India. 
 
<keyword id="1871874" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="PropTiger">PropTiger</keyword> – mid-market focus paying dividends: Started in 2011 by Dhruv Agarwala, Kartik Varma and Prashan Agarwal (Dhruv and Kartik are Harvard alumni and co-founders of iTrust Financial Advisors which they sold to the Karvy Group), this start-up is well on its way to become really big. But unlike other portals, this company is marketing new residential developments and targeting first-time home-buyers in the mid-market segment. PropTiger has a hybrid (online-offline) business platform in place and handholds potential customers by offering a whole range of value-added services – right from sending you apartment options to organising site visits, affordability analysis and facilitating home loans. No wonder the firm’s revenues are soaring and it claims to have crossed Rs 2,500 crore in GMV (gross value of the properties sold). 
 
Funding: The traction has been good so far and VC firms Accel Partners and SAIF Partners have invested $5 million in Series A round for the next phase of growth. Earlier, PropTiger raised an undisclosed round from a number of HNIs. 
 
<keyword id="1556577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="CommonFloor-com">CommonFloor.com</keyword> – hi-tech apps help: Not exactly a young company but this six-year-old portal needs a mention here as it has some hi-tech offerings that users love. The firm has launched an augmented reality-based property search app called CommonFloor Real Estate, which also enables GPS-based map search and helps extend all its portal services on to a mobile phone. As for AR search, a user has to input her property criteria and point the phone in any direction. The app will then track the relevant assets within a certain distance. The Bangalore-based firm also combines online property search with a community management platform. 
 
Funding: Founded by Sumit Jain, Lalit Mangal and Vikas Malpani, the firm has recently raised a Series C funding of $7.5 million from existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management. Accel and Tiger invested in the firm in Series A and B as well, but the amounts were not disclosed. 
 
<keyword id="1871875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Metroplots">Metroplots</keyword> – apps and new features make it sticky: Started by Biju Ashokan in 2009, this Chennai-based firm operates a bit like PropTiger and focuses on new residential and commercial developments. The site offers some value-added services such as comparison tool, expert advice, loan facilitation, referral (when you refer a friend and she makes a purchase, you get a commission on the total value of that asset), group deal/discount and post-sales help. Metroplots has apps for both Android and iOS platforms, and could be adding more channels like property rental and reselling. 
 
Funding: Metroplots has already raised two rounds of angel funding and secured under $1 million in the second round. It is now looking to raise close to $2 million for more features and pan-India expansion.

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