MUMBAI: Saavn LLC’s music streaming app Saavn has roped in Gaurav Wadhwa as its vice president of entertainment and original content Earlier, Wadhwa was senior marketing consultant at PepsiCo.

Wadhwa will lead Saavn’s expansion into new genres through original programming. Based in Mumbai, Wadhwa will be looking over the generation of new content verticals, Saavn’s transformation into a comprehensive steaming service by developing the company’s sports, comedy, and other such channels. The company had announced in July that it planned to expand beyond mainstream music.

Wadhwa has experience of over 10 years in curating content for many global brands including Red Bull, MTV, Mountain Dew, and Pepsi. He has worked with MTV to develop music programming and brand solutions, has launched Red Bull in India through alternative sports, music, and culture marketing. He also launched Pepsi’s big cola innovation and spearheaded the Pepsi MTV Indies program.

Saavn co-founder and executive chairman Paramdeep Singh said, “Gaurav’s award-winning experience, combined with his genuine passion for music, culture, and technology, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Saavn’s Music+ initiatives.”

On his new role, Wadhwa said, “I am enormously excited to join Saavn and work with some of India’s most talented content creators and entertainment platforms to create a next generation media-tech brand. It’s not every day that you get to create a whole new category from scratch, but that’s the kind of incredible opportunity we have at Saavn.