In an exclusive interview with Loudest.in, Udit Tyagi, CDO at ENIL, shares Gaana’s vision as a “Made in India, Made for Bharat” platform for True Fans
Udit Tyagi, Chief Digital Officer at Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL), drives the digital evolution of Gaana and Mirchi, two of India’s most influential entertainment brands. A visionary leader, he champions Bharat-first experiences, innovative products, and user-centric engagement. A BCCL Chairman’s Award recipient, Tyagi is recognised for shaping India’s digital entertainment landscape with his blend of strategic foresight and entrepreneurial agility.
In an exclusive interview with Loudest.in, Udit Tyagi, CDO at ENIL, shares Gaana’s vision as a “Made in India, Made for Bharat” platform for True Fans. With a focus on hyperlocal content, AI-driven experiences, and affordable subscriptions, Gaana aims to be “everything music” ,a home for fans, artists, and culture.
Here are edited excerpts:
Gaana has seen major transitions in the Indian streaming landscape recently. How are you reimagining Gaana’s digital strategy to stay competitive amid new entrants, AI-driven curation, and changing user expectations?
We are building Gaana as “Made in India and Made for Bharat” app, which is a one-stop-shop for “True fans”. For us True Fans are users who pay for music, have a deep emotional connect, and care about local artists, culture and wide genres. We are customising solutions for India right from building the music subscription ecosystem, providing hyperlocal content, smart song downloads, offline experience or powering recommendations basis Indian music consumption using Machine learning and AI.
You’ve been an early advocate for non-music audio formats. How is Gaana investing in original podcasts and talk-based content, and how are you measuring ROI beyond traditional listenership metrics?
As ENIL, parent brand of Mirchi and Gaana we have always been strong supporters of talk-based content. We use a mix of O&O (Owned & Operated), social & 3rd party platforms to reach our audiences across the globe. We have deeply invested in podcasts and audio stories across different Indian languages. Our famous podcast “Sunday Suspense” in Bangla is one of the most popular podcasts in India.
Rather than just Gaana, we as ENIL have been investing in talk- based content for both our terrestrial stations Mirchi and our online music platform Gaana. While music in our opinion is a mass consumption-based product, podcasts are something which attracts niches, hence you would see most of our talk-based home productions being very TG and platform specific where the primary focus is on engaging targeted audience segments.
Gaana has always been rooted in mass India, but digital monetization is still a challenge across diverse markets. What are your top three priorities for driving revenue while maintaining accessibility for regional and vernacular users?
Our 3 primary priorities are: User, Artist & Subscription. We are trying to establish a homogenous relation between these 3 priorities. Advertising industry generally is very volatile; however, subscription is a stable source of business sustenance. Gaana was the first one to believe that India is ready for a Music subscription ecosystem. Post our decision everyone else followed suit. We strongly believe in the below 2 thoughts:If you want to listen to music, you need to pay for it.” and “Subscription should be affordable for all in India”
We are using a combination of technology and our deep-rooted understanding of music across languages and genres, built over the years in Mirchi to provide a great listening experience to our consumers. We are the only ones who provide Hyperlocal listening trends to users. The acceptance of UPI has helped in the process of Subscription acceptance. In fact, 97% subscription payments on Gaana happen over UPI with a reasonable contribution coming from Tier 2 & 3 cities and govt bank UPI accounts whose acceptance is still more in Bharat. Our target is not to get the subscribed user of any other Music App, but to convert the millions of free music listening audiences over the internet, to subscribed users at an affordable price.
The creator economy is redefining how music and audio are consumed. What role does Gaana envision in supporting independent podcasters, musicians, or storytellers through monetization, brand deals, or creator tools?
We believe “Creativity & Artists’ Efforts are not for Free” hence we want to support artists not just as Gaana but ENIL as a whole, through our entire ecosystem. Very soon you should see dedicated artists apps & artist solutions platforms bringing holistic solutions for artist discovery and promotion. We are building a robust artist ecosystem where artists don’t just get a strong True fan base on Gaana, but also get discoverability through different mediums of ENIL like the 70+ terrestrial stations of Mirchi, concerts & events across India, artist mashups etc.
Tell us about latest collaboration or a project that you are proud of?
Gaana is the only music streaming platform which is customising for India. We are really proud of our in-car product, which has been accepted by multiple brands. Gaana is the only app in India which is deeply integrated inside Mahindra, Maruti and Tata
The Indian digital audio space is becoming a cultural playground. How do you balance commercial objectives with Gaana’s role in shaping India’s evolving pop culture narrative?
As a subscription-only app for the masses, we are working on initiatives which can help us shape the pop culture while building an identity for Gaana. We would love to work with artists and the industry on this. If a brand is at the forefront of popular culture, commercial gains will follow.
What’s your vision for Gaana in 2026? Do you see the platform evolving more as an audio entertainment ecosystem, or as a personalized lifestyle and culture destination powered by content, community, and commerce?
Our vision is clear. “Gaana has to be everything Music. Home for True Fans!”. We want to build Gaana as a Home for True Fans – giving fans a great experience is a priority over everything else.