How podcasts are making smartphones 'smart'

Podcasts are no longer a quaint US phenomenon designed for a nation that spends a lot of time driving around and waiting for traffic signals to change

My first exposure to a podcast was a few years ago when we took a road trip in the US. The person driving us was a hard core NPR (National Public Radio for the uninitiated) fan and insisted that we listen to a talk show on NPR instead of rock or jazz or any other form of music. I dismissed podcast as a quaint US phenomenon designed for a nation that spends a lot of time driving around and waiting for the signal to change. 

Early last year I got exposed to the podcasting revolution brewing in our own backyard. I was invited to speak on the ‘Play to Potential’ podcast hosted by Deepak Jayaraman who gave up a lucrative career in consulting to become an executive coach. He runs his podcast as a pure passion play. Then there was an invitation from IVM podcast to appear on their very popular ‘Cyrus Says’ podcast with the one and only Cyrus Broacha. While I knew Deepak’s session will be more close to where I was coming from, I admit that I did enjoy the irreverence of Cyrus and his take on advertising, books and leadership. 

To my big surprise several people messaged me after listening into the Play to Potential podcast and the Cyrus Says as well. In fact one of the people who messaged me after the Cyrus podcast was a seasoned finance professional. I had to ask him, “You listen to Cyrus Says?”, and he replied that he listens to interesting podcasts every day during his morning walks and Cyrus is a favourite. 

Indian podcasting pioneers are expanding their own portfolio of offerings and garnering an increasing share of the more mature listener’s ear

But truly how big is the podcasting world? The podcasting revolution started in the US and the tipping point was the launch in October 2014 of the immensely popular podcast Serial which traced real life crime cases. Till date Serial has been downloaded 300 million times. That is an awesome number. Globally there are today more than 500,000 podcasts. And more than 64 per cent of Americans have listened to at least one podcast last year. In India too podcasts have been gaining ground. More than 300,000 people downloaded NPR podcasts last year in India. 

Is there a market for Indian content? The likes of what Deepak and IVM/Cyrus are producing? It seems there are at least 1.05 million active monthly listens in India. And the number is growing. It is also interesting that almost 40 per cent of these listeners listen to the end of the podcast, as an Economic Times report quoting AudioBoom India says. 

Some of the more popular podcasts in India are Maed in India by MaeMariam Thomas and No Sugar Coat from Pooja Dhingra and Seen and Unseen from IVM Podcast. There is also the potential offered by Indian language podcasts that is yet to explode. 

What does the future hold? Where is the money going to come from? 

Multiple revenue models are under development including advertising, subscriptions, content marketing etc. 

The Fortune magazine (September 15, 2016) spoke about the growth of podcasting in Why Big Business Loves Podcasting. They pointed out to four types of podcasting successes: eBay partnered with Gimlet Creatives to create a six-part series on entrepreneurship; Goldman Sachs produced an in-house podcast on topics such as e-commerce, interviewing their analysts; General Electric sponsored a sci-fi series on Panoply media about cryptologists decoding an alien signal; Netflix produced a promo piece on its series Making a Murderer. 

FastCompany (July/May 2017) identified 10 great business podcasts saying “spend your lunch break with these tasty takes on work, culture, tech and other topics”. They have included podcasts such as Start Up (Gimlet Media), Planet Money (NPR), Working (Panoply), How I Built This (NPR), I Hate My Boss (Wondery. How well this would fit with the old Naukri.com proposition of ‘Hari Sadu’!]. 

What is triggering the podcast listenership? I was told that mature listeners are today getting bored with the standard fare churned out by our FM radio stations. The success of Saregama’s Carvaan is a pointer in that direction. There is a big market out there that is not just satisfied with the Top 10 or Top 20 songs being played out endlessly. Our Radio FM stations are also looking at offering varied content, but as they say they tend to ‘revert back to the mean’ pretty soon. It is here that Indian podcasting pioneers are seeing an opportunity. They are expanding their own portfolio of offerings and garnering an increasing share of the more mature listener’s ear. As they increase their listener share marketers too will want to ride on the podcast boom. And we can expect to listen to more and more interesting content on our smartphones. And they will truly become ‘smart’ devices indeed. 

The author is an independent brand strategist and founder of Brand-Building.com. email: ambimgp@brand-building.com