India’s Music Streaming Market Enters Product-Led Phase, Says Jyotsna Koundal

India’s music streaming landscape is entering a new phase where product innovation,not just content scale or marketing spend,is set to define winners, according to Jyotsna Koundal, Head of Strategy & Analytics at JioSaavn.

In a recent post referencing insights from the EY-FICCI Media and Entertainment Report 2026, Koundal argued that while the traditional go-to-market (GTM) stack,content, product, and marketing,remains relevant, the dynamics within it have shifted significantly.

“Content has largely been commoditized, with platforms offering libraries of 80–100 million tracks,” she noted. “Marketing alone cannot drive growth unless supported by strong product and content alignment,making product the real battleground.”

India as ‘Micro-Markets,’ Not One Audience

The data highlights a crucial shift in understanding Indian listeners,not as a single homogeneous base, but as a collection of “micro-Indias” shaped by language, region, and culture.

Among the key findings:

• Devotional content continues to dominate across segments, with Hanuman Chalisa streams outperforming blockbuster film tracks by 1.5x.
• Genre preferences are deeply regional, with intersections like Marathi-devotional and Haryanvi–desi hip-hop gaining traction.
• Cities such as Chennai, Guwahati, and Vijayawada are emerging as high-growth streaming markets.

The report also points to a divide between “affluent India” and “aspirational India,” not just in language preferences but in engagement with technology and recommendations.

The Rise of Cultural Intelligence in Product Design

Koundal emphasized that the next wave of growth in music OTT will hinge on embedding “cultural intelligence” directly into product experiences,ranging from recommendations to playlists and discovery engines.

“Global scale optimizes for averages. India demands optimization for extremes, where context and culture matter more than catalogue depth,” she said.

This shift places greater importance on local product thinking and on-the-ground engineering teams who understand nuanced listener behavior.

David vs Goliath Moment?

The evolving landscape could open doors for smaller or more agile players. Platforms that effectively integrate cultural nuance into their product design may be able to compete with larger global streaming giants.

“The next phase of music OTT can be won through culturally intelligent products,” Koundal concluded. “That’s where local teams gain a structural advantage and where Davids can beat Goliaths.”

As India’s streaming economy matures, the emphasis is clearly moving beyond scale to relevance,signaling a more complex, localized, and product-driven future for the industry.