Beyond listens – and beyond the screen

South African podcasting is the overnight success, years in the making. PwC predicts our podcast market will reach 19 million listeners and over R300 million in ad revenue.

But what does that look like on the ground?

Such a large potential audience creates a stick we can beat ourselves with; podcasting isn’t about mass, it’s about intimacy – and, according to hosting platform Buzzsprout, even 124 listens in 30 days can rank a podcast in the top 50%, redefining what is needed for a breakthrough podcast.

So what metric should we be looking for?

I’m looking more at the concept of ‘stickability’, which allows us to measure loyalty and time spent listening. A podcast listeners’ engagement lasts for hours compared to the instant dopamine hit of viral videos – but one is more valued over the other.

It’s evident that we need a new currency in podcast measurement.

As for the R300 million? I talk with all scale of podcast creators and, unless that money is hidden under someone’s couch on a game farm, it’s not quite there.

One of the biggest disruptors to podcasting in the foreseeable future will be the aggressive, possibly damaging, approach from YouTube.

YouTube is a massive content discovery engine – but guess what it features along with your podcast? Every single other piece of content with the same subject as your podcast…

YouTube will also take money away from ‘indy podders (independent podcasters), as it’s easy to buy for over-worked media buyers. They put a tick next to their KPI that says podcast advertising, but the podcaster gets no money; Google does.

Go with the lingo

So if YouTube could kill this whole podcast thing – what can save it?

Let’s start with local language podcasts.

The reason that podcasting hasn’t filled the kind of gap locally that it has internationally is due to the power of our African Language radio stations who carry a diversity of content relevant to relatively niche language and cultural groups.

However, all radio stations are limited in that they can only carry 24 hours of content a day – podcasting doesn’t have that limitation.

Podcasts are also a great equaliser in these markets as we continue to battle our literacy levels. The concept of Pod Ed is waiting to be embraced and rolled out.

And as much as it pains me as a 43-year-old male to say this: Gen Z may just be the great saviours of audio podcasting as YouTube tries to eat it.

Gen Z values podcasts for alleviating loneliness, embracing diverse voices, and providing in-depth news explanations beyond social media’s surface coverage.

One respondent in the Spotify Culture Next Survey said “On social media, you hear that a politician stole money. On podcasts, they explain everything: why they stole money, from whom they stole money…”

Deeper immersion, a more thought out product and adapting to the needs of the audience, means more ‘’Stickability’’.

The fascinating thing about podcasting is that it is ever changing. It’s a medium building the plane while it’s in the air.

Or, more aptly, a medium trying to record with hadedas at the window and the clock saying it’s quarter-to-load shedding.

Paulo Dias is the head of audio innovation at radio and audio advertising specialist agency, Ultimate Media, and a successful podcaster in his own right.

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