Brands
Brands betting big on IVM Podcast, share Amit Doshi and Kavita Rajwade
Mumbai: Fueled up by the pandemic and unprecedented lockdown, the audio industry has grown massively over the past two years. According to a listener survey by IVM Podcasts, around 96 per cent tuned in via their phones and saw more women than ever listening to podcasts. 80 per cent of listeners prefer to listen to episodes that are more than 20 minutes long, and serious listeners get about seven-eight hours of listening per week.
According to a KPMG study, podcast consumption increased by 29.3 per cent in the first year of the pandemic. A survey by Spotify and YouGov says that as of 2021, 50 percent of Indians prefer listening to at least one episode of a podcast every week.
The PWC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020 study also predicted that India’s podcast listening market, the third-largest globally, is expected to reach Rs 17.61 crore by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 34.5 per cent.
Following the trend, branded podcasts have emerged as a favorite of advertisers across industries.
In a conversation with IndianTelevision.com, Pratilipi owned IVM podcasts head Amit Doshi shared why brands should go for a branded podcast. Along with him, IVM co-founder Kavita Rajwade also joined in to highlight the increasing number of advertisers on the platform.
The growth trajectory of IVM
Industry estimates show that the podcast industry has grown immensely during the pandemic. Highlighting the growth of IVM, Doshi said, “Like the entire podcast industry, IVM too has grown enormously.”
“Right now we create content for thirty-five advertisers and are aiming to garner a hundred brands by the end of 2022,” he revealed.
He added, “during the initial months of the lockdown, IVM registered a drop in listenership but soon audiences were saturated with regular entertainment channels like television, OTT, etc., which led them to discover podcasts.”
“As soon as they realised that the medium is a perfect resort for infotainment, they couldn’t take a step back which helped the medium grow,” Doshi added.
Except for FMCG, brands across categories show interest
At present, IVM has thirty-five advertisers in its bucket. Doshi said, “We have a variety of advertisers working with us. However, we are not specific to a particular niche of brands. We have all kinds of advertisers including fintech, edtech and e-commerce. However, FMCG is one category that is still very hesitant to invest in branded podcasts.”
Explaining the reason behind the low-interest rates of FMCG brands, he said, “FMCG brands are usually targeting all classes of the society, whereas, the podcast is still not a mass medium. Branded podcasts are limited to educated people, millennials and Gen Z, hence FMCG brands are not open to experimenting in the podcast ecosystem.”
Audio is no more limited to music only
Gone are the days when audio was synonymous with music only. Now, audio for Indian listeners is a lot beyond music.
“There was a time when audio was only about music. Songs were the only option to fill our everyday commutes, long lines at the bank, early morning walks and awkward carpools with insightful and funny stories,” Rajwade said. “But now when it comes to audio-based entertainment, listeners look for podcasts, audiobooks, editorials and other audio options,” she added.
Content experience is more important than content creation
Rajwade thinks that it is the content experience that helped them to grow consistently. “To provide the right solutions to the brands, we focus on providing better experiences to our listeners rather than just creating content,” she said.
“Content creation is our primary job but we focus more on how our content makes the listener feel, because no one remembers the content after listening to it, what stays with them is the experience and feel they get while listening to a particular content,” she explained.
Immense room for growth
According to an analysis by market research firm RedSeer, only 12 per cent of the Indian population “had ever listened to a podcast” till 2021. The number indicates that there’s “immense room for growth.”
In his concluding remarks, Doshi said, “As India has finally started seeing a notable surge in the number of podcast listeners, I see a great opportunity for growth in this industry.”
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
