“The digital age has brought in a revolution with the rise in demand for music apps and podcasts platforms. Radio City has taken this as an opportunity to scale business and reinvent itself by adopting & repurposing our audio content differently,” said Rachna Kanwar, COO, Digital Media, Radio City & Mid-day.
As the COO – Digital Media, Radio City and Mid-day, Rachna Kanwar has a diverse portfolio comprising Radio City Digital, Midday Digital, Content Syndication and Integrated Media Solutions. She is credited with building Radiocity Digital into India’s first and leading online radio network with over 18 channels and a formidable presence on leading Social Media platforms with millions of hours of original content and strategic alliances with numerous international organizations.
In Conversation with Medianews4u, Rachna Kanwar spoke about Radio City’s journey during the pandemic, Radio City’s initiatives of integration with other new-age media, new age music apps, and more.
Throw some light on Radio city’s journey during the pandemic, any particular incident to recall?
The journey through the pandemic left behind powerful work-life lessons that will continue to influence the way business is conducted at Radio City. As an organization, we responded with agility to this unprecedented situation, which, coupled with our unified approach to tackle challenges, kept us going. One key triumph was to experiment with and then quickly enter new avenues to build robust revenue streams with our digital initiatives and provide consumers quality content through our digital platforms. During the pandemic, the radio played a key role in disseminating credible information, relying solely on trusted sources, which helped counter the spread of fake news. We were able to enhance our digital capabilities and expand our reach to active internet users who were able to access our content on a variety of platforms.
Can you talk about Radio City’s initiatives of integration with other new-age media?
Radio City has been focusing on the integration of on-air with digital and expanding its presence within the social media space. We have been executing digital-first strategies and developing innovative properties such as digital concerts, awards, live chats with celebrities, podcasts and many more. Our integration initiatives have enabled us to offer a plethora of fresh and innovative multimedia content to our consumers and advertisers. By extending partnerships with digital and OTT platforms, Radio City has been able to create new revenue streams that are increasingly growing our distribution channels.
Are new age music apps and podcasts platforms a threat to the Radio industry?
The digital age has brought in a revolution with the rise in demand for music apps and podcasts platforms. Radio City has taken this as an opportunity to scale business and reinvent itself by adopting & repurposing our audio content differently. In fact, Radio City has collaborated with Spotify to provide our content, including more than 1400 episodes of 16 audio IPs to Spotify users. Our partnership has allowed us to reach a whole new set of listeners and expanded our digital reach through a credible new medium. Such collaborations help us augment our business grow further and expand our footprints into newer avenues. Radio City is not restricted to a single platform; for us, the entire digital universe is our playground. Continuous innovation and leveraging our content-driven model empowers radio to turn around new-age technologies from threats to becoming tactical tools in staying relevant in the media broadcasting space.
Can you talk about the new age inventories offered by Radio City to attract more advertisers on board?
As the pandemic tide is steadily weakening, there has been a positive outlook among advertisers to continue leveraging the strength of radio + digital to share their brand message. We have been working consistently towards offering innovative campaign strategies to our advertisers across markets, whether it is our expansive social media reach or integration with our RJ Influencers. We have consistently seen the magical combination of Radio and Digital doing wonders for our partner brand campaigns. All our existing IPs are now additionally available on digital platforms with our RJs adding that cherry on the cake.
What are the challenges you foresee in further growth?
I view challenges as opportunities to explore possibilities to grow and expand into territories that will aid radio in reaching its full potential. What began as just one medium has now transformed into a multi-platform entity, which allows content creators to reach varying audiences and build communities that enjoy these offerings much more than ever. One key challenge is to continuously innovate, evolve, and adapt to changes in technology and serve consumers with enriching content and stay relevant to our advertisers and stakeholders. Audiences will choose your content over the cluttered social media space if they believe that the content is relatable and resonates with them.
Can you elaborate on the diversity and inclusion initiatives at Radio City?
Diversity and inclusion are deeply woven into the heart of Radio City. Everyone across teams is committed to building a diverse culture that highlights how every individual can add value to the company and create an influence every day. It’s a well-recognized fact that diversity and inclusion help increase the bottom line and influence the overall performance of the company. We strive to minimize fear and apprehension by adopting an inclusive language initiative that emphasizes unity and welcomes a sense of belonging within the organization. This comprises conducting regular training and frequent employee satisfaction surveys on these parameters. Radio City has always focused on gender parity policies and has been recognized as one of India’s Best Workplaces for Women in 2019 as well as ranked 4th in ‘Best Large Workplaces in Asia’ in 2020, according to the GPTW survey.
What is the legacy you want to leave behind as a woman leader?
As a woman leader, my focus is to guide and groom potential women colleagues to actively participate and excel in all their endeavors and to create a strong impact on the culture at Radio City and Mid-day. I want to build a passion-focused environment for young executives to support their creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Women leaders need to nurture and mentor younger women, especially at the various stages in their careers when the dropping out rate is the highest. It will be of immense satisfaction if I can help other women in making successful careers.
