Priya Dharshini Prabakaran rose from music executive to become the first female and youngest director of Astro Audio, one of Asia’s leading audio companies. She now leads 13 radio brands and the Syok digital platform in one of the world’s most diverse audio markets. Prabakaran discusses multilingual leadership, digital brand-building and why local storytelling remains central to Astro Audio’s strategy.
RedTech: Your progression from music executive to director was rapid. Was there a defining moment that shaped your leadership philosophy?
Priya Dharshini Prabakaran: A leader’s role is to create an environment where a team feels empowered to contribute their best ideas. One defining moment in my career was witnessing how rapidly audience behavior changed as radio shifted toward digital platforms. I noticed how quickly listening habits were evolving, and how critical it was for media organizations to adapt to stay relevant.
That experience reinforced the importance of staying open to change, relying on data-driven insights and trusting teams to experiment. It also shaped my belief that a leader must provide clarity and direction, drive change and give people the confidence and support to innovate. In a fast-moving industry, success comes from combining creativity, adaptability and a willingness to continually evolve alongside our audiences.
RedTech: In your first year as director, where did you focus most of your attention, and why?
Prabakaran: My main focus was accelerating Astro Audio’s digital transformation while preserving the strengths of our traditional radio business. As audience behaviors evolve, our role extends beyond broadcasting to creating meaningful audio experiences across multiple platforms.
We saw an opportunity to evolve Astro Audio into a multiplatform ecosystem spanning radio, streaming, podcasts and social content. Today’s audiences move seamlessly across platforms and devices, so our brands need to stay relevant wherever and whenever they choose to engage with us.
A leader’s role is to create an environment where the team feels empowered to contribute their best ideas.
RedTech: What has been the most difficult strategic decision you’ve had to make since becoming director of Astro Audio in 2024?
Prabakaran: How to balance investment between our highly successful radio business and emerging digital opportunities. The challenge is not choosing between radio and digital but ensuring both work as an integrated audio ecosystem.
This extends to the commercial side too. As media consumption becomes more fragmented, securing advertiser investment across both radio and digital requires us to demonstrate value, effectiveness and innovation continuously. Ultimately, our goal is to keep Astro Audio relevant to audiences, deliver results for advertisers and be well-positioned for long-term growth.
RedTech: What’s one digital investment that’s already showing results?
Prabakaran: Era, one of our Malay-language stations, alone generated more than 1.4 billion video views across Instagram and TikTok in the first half of the year. That scale of engagement proves our brands are successfully reaching digital-first audiences, and the commercial opportunities are equally exciting.
RedTech: Astro Audio leads the Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil markets. Is there a common principle that applies to all audiences, or does each require a different approach?
Prabakaran: Relevance — regardless of language, culture or demographic, we must create content that genuinely resonates with our audiences’ needs, interests and daily lives. However, while the purpose may be the same, how we engage listeners must reflect each community’s unique language, culture, values and preferences. During festive periods, for example, themes of celebration, togetherness and family may resonate across all audiences.
Ultimately, our success comes from understanding that while audiences differ, the expectation is the same: Content that’s relevant, relatable and creates a genuine connection.
RedTech: Content rarely lives on one platform today. How does Astro Audio develop a concept across radio, streaming, podcasts and social?
Prabakaran: When a trending topic or cultural moment resonates strongly with our audiences, rather than treating it as a single piece of content, we consider how to amplify it across our audio ecosystem to deepen audience engagement and extend its impact.
Radio drives real-time conversation and audience participation, letting listeners engage directly with our personalities and programs. Social media amplifies key moments through short-form, shareable content that drives discovery and reach. Podcasts and streaming platforms then give audiences the flexibility to revisit the conversation on demand.
Rather than simply repurpose content, we leverage the strengths of each platform: Radio for immediacy, social for discoverability, podcasts and streaming for on-demand flexibility. Together, they create a more connected, seamless audience experience across the Astro Audio ecosystem.
RedTech: How are Astro Audio’s digital assets performing?
Prabakaran: They continue to deliver strong growth in both audience reach and engagement. Era is a strong example of this success. Initiatives such as Penyampai Baru Era, Penyampai Emas Sinar and Next On Hitz have also driven strong audience participation, particularly among younger audiences, while building content and talent pipelines for our brands.
These initiatives have created new opportunities for sponsorships, branded partnerships and integrated advertising solutions. As our digital ecosystem grows, so does the value we create for audiences, advertisers and the business.
RedTech: Can you share any specific figures on audience growth, revenue or profitability, even in percentage terms, behind that success?
Prabakaran: While I can’t disclose specific revenue or profitability figures, our digital investments are clearly driving audience growth at scale. My FM’s Big Show, for example, has evolved into a multiplatform experience across social, video and live touchpoints. Between 2024 and 2025, reach more than doubled from 12% to 26%, while video views grew from 37% to 71%. The key metric is how effectively we’re building communities around our brands. That gives us confidence the investments are creating both audience and commercial value.
RedTech: What’s the fastest way a radio brand can lose an audience’s trust?
Prabakaran: Lose sight of who you’re serving. Every decision should enhance the audience’s experience. Trust is built when a brand consistently delivers value and keeps audiences at the center of the conversation. It’s lost the moment they feel sidelined.
RedTech: How does Astro Audio choose the types of content to invest in for its on-demand strategy?
Prabakaran: We make investment decisions based on data, audience behavior and commercial potential. From an audience acquisition perspective, we prioritize content that addresses audience needs, has strong engagement potential and allows us to reach new audience segments across our digital platforms.
From a revenue perspective, we assess whether content creates opportunities for sponsorships, branded integrations, digital advertising and strategic partnerships. The most successful content is engaging, scalable across multiple platforms and capable of creating long-term value for both audiences and advertisers.
RedTech: What assumptions about Gen Z audiences have you found to be wrong, and how is Astro Audio growing the next generation of listeners?
Prabakaran: One of the biggest misconceptions is that Gen Z doesn’t consume audio. They do, just differently. They prefer on-demand, discoverable content access through digital and social platforms, and they follow personalities rather than platforms. We saw this through “The Next on Hitz Announcer Search,” where audiences engaged with contestants across multiple touchpoints, following their personalities and journeys.
Gen Z values authenticity and relevant, shareable content. That’s why we focus on creating interactive content across platforms like TikTok, YouTube and podcasts. The lesson: Build authentic personalities and communities, and the audience will follow.
RedTech: How does Astro Audio recruit talent today, how is it leveraged across platforms, and how is it incentivized to deliver on Astro’s needs?
Prabakaran: We look for creators, storytellers and personalities who can connect with audiences across platforms, evaluating creativity, authenticity, adaptability and community-building ability. Many of our talents now operate across radio, digital video, social, podcasts and live events.
We foster a performance-driven culture that recognizes not just radio ratings but digital engagement, audience growth and contribution to broader business goals, keeping talent relevant in a dynamic media landscape.
For us, success isn’t about getting everything right the first time; it’s about listening, learning and continuously improving.
RedTech: Have the talent contracts been updated to reflect this multiplatform role?
Prabakaran: Absolutely. Talent roles have evolved because audiences no longer see radio, social and digital as separate experiences. We now look at talent more holistically, for their ability to grow communities, create influence and build lasting audience relationships, rather than just their broadcasting skills. It’s about ensuring they remain relevant in a multiplatform world.
RedTech: Tell us about a local content initiative that didn’t work. How did you measure the failure, and what was your response?
Prabakaran: Syok Fest 2024 [Astro Audio’s three-day festival spanning live radio, podcasts, music and culture involving 13 stations] is a good example. While we believed in the concept, audience response and engagement fell short of expectations. We measure success through reach, engagement, participation, retention and commercial performance. When an initiative falls short, we assess whether it needs refinement, repositioning or discontinuation.
What matters is learning quickly. The insights from Syok Fest directly shaped Kita FM in 2025, which received a much stronger response.
RedTech: How is your data strategy shaping both programming and sales?
Prabakaran: Data is critical in shaping our content and commercial strategies. On the content side, audience insights guide programming, talent and content decisions. A Nielsen BrandLift Study 2025 on the My FM Big Show Concert campaign illustrates this impact. The campaign delivered a 32-point uplift in awareness (75% vs. 43%), with 58% of respondents naming My FM as their preferred radio station, demonstrating a strong impact on brand recognition and audience preference. On the commercial side, data helps provide advertisers with deeper audience intelligence, enabling more relevant campaigns and stronger business outcomes.
RedTech: Looking ahead to 2030, what do you hope people will say Astro Audio changed about the way audiences experience audio?
Prabakaran: By 2030, I hope people will say that Astro Audio made audio more personalized, interactive and seamlessly integrated into their daily lives, across radio, streaming, podcasts, social media or emerging platforms.
More importantly, I hope we’re recognized for keeping local content and Malaysian voices relevant in a rapidly evolving digital landscape and for deepening connections between audiences, content and communities through innovation and storytelling.
This story originally appeared in the September/October 2026 edition of RedTech Magazine. You can read or download that edition for free here.
You can access all past RedTech publications, also for free, here.
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