”The Hindi Business Drives 60–70% Of Kuku FM's Listener Base, Making It Key To Our Growth”-Jhoomer Sinha VP Kuku FM

Jhoomer Sinha, Vice President of India Hindi Business at Kuku FM, is a seasoned professional with over a decade of expertise in business strategy, growth, and venture capital. At Kuku FM, she leads the Hindi content ecosystem, overseeing a vast library, onboarding creators, and innovating storytelling formats.

With a proven track record in the consumer internet space, Jhoomer has been instrumental in driving growth and identifying game-changing consumer brands during her tenure at top consulting and venture capital firms. Her visionary leadership is shaping the future of Hindi audio content.

In an exclusive conversation with Loudest.in,  Sinha talks about Kuku FM and the thriving audio content industry.Here are edited excerpts:

Q1.As the Vice President of India Hindi Business at Kuku FM, what has been the most exciting part of your journey so far?

All right, it’s been almost six months since I joined Kuku FM, and I must say, the journey has been incredibly fulfilling and enriching. Every day, we come together as a team to work on initiatives that truly move mountains, driving growth and creating a meaningful impact on our listeners. This sense of purpose and progress has been something I’ve deeply enjoyed.

When I started six months ago, I joined as part of the team with a background in consumer business. It took me some time to understand the intricacies of the audio OTT space, but within a month or two, I had a clear understanding of how the entire pipeline works. From there, we began assembling the team and crafting strategies that have brought us to where we are today.

The Hindi business is a critical pillar of Kuku FM's overall growth, contributing 60–70% of the platform’s listener base, primarily from the Hindi-speaking belt. Over the past year, we’ve seen nearly a 30% increase in content consumption within this segment. Witnessing this growth has been immensely rewarding. In the last six months alone, we’ve made significant strides, experimenting with various genres, introducing innovative content, and exploring new strategies for production and distribution.

This remarkable progress has reinforced my belief in the power of innovation and teamwork. For me, stepping into a new domain, learning the nuances of the business, and contributing to its growth has been both challenging and gratifying. I look forward to continuing this momentum and driving further success in the years ahead.

Q2.Kuku FM has seen tremendous growth in the Hindi-speaking market. What are your strategic plans for expanding into the southern market?

Our business has primarily focused on catering to Hindi-speaking users, who are predominantly based in the northern regions of India. Naturally, this has been our core area of focus. However, we’ve recently recognized that a significant number of Hindi-speaking users, particularly from the migrant population, also reside in southern India, especially in tier-one metros and several emerging metropolitan areas.

Reaching this audience requires a more nuanced approach. For the Hindi-speaking belt in the north, our strategies are well-defined, leveraging various marketing levers to engage users effectively. In contrast, targeting Hindi-speaking users in southern markets necessitates a tailored marketing strategy. Here, we rely on key opinion leaders (KOLs) to influence and connect with these users, given the distinct cultural and demographic dynamics of the region.

We’ve been implementing this approach since last quarter and are already seeing promising results. Alongside our efforts to reach Hindi-speaking users in southern markets, we also have a well-established southern language business that serves audiences in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. While 65–70% of our business is driven by Hindi-speaking users, the remaining portion caters to vernacular language users in southern markets.

By continuing to refine our nuanced marketing strategies for Hindi-speaking users in the south and expanding our southern language offerings, we aim to sustain and enhance our growth in the coming months.

Q3.Could you share some recent examples of collaborations or partnerships?

What we’ve observed is that we work with a diverse range of content creators. For instance, we collaborate with individuals who have written for major OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. These creators, who have produced content for such platforms, are now exploring opportunities in the audio OTT space because they see significant potential here. Audio OTT offers them broader access, faster turnaround times, and quicker feedback, which makes it an attractive medium for them.

At the same time, we also work with emerging artists who may not yet have a portfolio. We are always open to giving them a chance. When they pitch their ideas to us, we partner with them to develop their stories, refine their craft, and ultimately publish their work.

This approach allows us to work across the full spectrum of creators—from budding talents to established individuals and even full-fledged production houses. It’s this diversity in collaboration that strengthens our content ecosystem.

Q4.What are some initiatives Kuku FM has taken to support emerging creators and ensure sustainable growth for them?

As the world becomes more digital, content consumption has become highly personalized, driving the need for democratized content creation. It can no longer be dominated by a single production house. To foster a creative community, we support creators in three key ways:

1. Monetary Support: We offer tailored revenue-sharing agreements to support budding artists, independent creators, and production houses.
2. Upskilling Through AI: Our dedicated Generative AI team identifies new tools and conducts crash courses to help creators improve their craft and adopt innovative technologies.
3. Feedback and Growth: Our platform provides quick and actionable feedback, enabling creators to refine their content and understand audience preferences.

This holistic approach has allowed us to build a diverse network of creators, from individuals to professional production houses, shaping a robust content pipeline.

Q5.Podcasts and audiobooks are gaining tremendous popularity. What are your thoughts on this trend? Could you also share details about your own podcast and your perspective on celebrity-hosted podcasts?

This is something we've been exploring. While we have a few experiments planned, the idea of involving listeners and giving them a more active role in shaping the narrative of audio content is an area we’re keen to experiment with. I believe this could potentially be the next frontier in audio content.

Why does this matter? Because audio consumption is becoming highly personalized—it’s an incredibly intimate medium. What you’re listening to can be vastly different from what your friends or family are tuning into. In this context, making audio truly immersive through interactive experiences might be where the next breakthrough lies. This is a trend we’re actively exploring.

Our platform caters to a diverse audience with content spanning various genres. We have drama-oriented entertainment, religious and spiritual content for specific audiences, career, self-help, and motivational content, as well as recorded podcasts.

As for celebrity podcasts, I believe they’re transforming brand narratives significantly. We live in an age where digital influence is reshaping how brands connect with audiences. Authentic voices cut through the noise without needing the backing of major production houses or distributors, which is incredible.

If we look back a decade, the celebrity landscape was dominated by larger-than-life Bollywood personalities. While they still hold influence, there’s now a new wave of influencers and creators who are authentic voices in their areas of expertise. Platforms like ours aim to amplify these voices.

This democratization of content is exciting. As long as creators and influencers bring authenticity and a genuine desire to make an impact, their voices deserve to be heard. It’s fantastic that platforms are enabling this evolution.