MUMBAI: Digitalisation is no more the next big thing, it has become a part of our present. Every medium is adapting to this change, but the fear of being left out haunts many. The mediums that continue to run the traditional way are at the risk of missing out on this digital wave, but Radio Mirchi is ready to evolve.

At the sessions of IAMAI’s Pixels, where panellist discussed digital entertainment, recent trends, digital content monetisation and content piracy online, Radio Mirchi’s CEO Prashant Pandey enlightened the audience with his digital plans.

“We look at digital growth as an opportunity and Radio Mirchi is already adjusting and looking up to this opportunity at its best,” said Pandey.

He further explained the ways in which Mirchi is adapting to the digital change. “Using digital technology helps one expand their brand. Amongst all our content, Mirchi Murga is reaching out to listeners across the world.”

Mirchi Murga is a show hosted by RJ Naved, who is famous for his prank calls on the show. This Mirchi content is available on all their digital platforms.

Apart from producing content for its radio channels, Mirchi also, creates content for on-ground and broadcast channels. These shows are later run on their YouTube channel and are warmly received by the viewers. “These viewers on YouTube are not our regular FM station listeners. In spite of that, we have huge followers on Facebook and YouTube,” stated the CEO.

To keep up with the millennials, Mirchi is doing something new - “In spite of having 53 stations in odd 40 cities, we do not have the license to play English songs. Thus to fulfil this we have three English playing radio stations online which are divided into three different genres and presented to this younger audience,” said Pandey.

The TSL (Time Spend Listening) that many big companies including YouTube are juggling with, Mirchi stands out with a one hour of TSL online.

“Digital platform helps our brand to move to new places and reach out to more people. The station reach is around 50 to 60 million, but online the reach is around 100 million. This is all because of the digital platform that we have adopted,” said Pandey.    

Interestingly, the idea of initiating radio on a digital platform was given by one of the board members of Mirchi. The member gave an example of how a highly rated shop has an online store with the same collection that eases his customer. This idea led to Mirchi’s digital success.  

“We are not trying to be the biggest online retailers; we are trying to say that we are available across platforms. We have seen the college kid moving from audio to video, moving from old generation phones to a smartphones. Our aim is to reach out to those kids. Thanks to Jio where data is not a problem now. Through online radio stations we keep up to these college kids,” explained Pandey.

Way to go Mirchi!