Podcasts are witnessing a curious upsurge in India. Renewed interest in audio content from players such as Saavn, Gaana and even Apple Music, appears to have lent a new lease of life to a previously stuttering format. The argument in favour is simple — unlike ad-riddled radio programmes, they can offer unadulterated, in-depth and intelligent audio entertainment. The trouble, however, is that podcast producers uniformly agree that audience numbers are still too small to justify continued investment. As a result, we’re left purveying a landscape that’s oddly fragmented.
Why care about podcasts at all? After all, we live in a video crazy world. Mobile viewership of YouTube — already at 180 million users every month — is growing at 400% every year. In comparison, podcasts barely rake in a few thousand listeners. Indus Vox Media, the country’s largest podcast producer, has seen 3.4 million downloads in total over the past couple of years. This is despite the presence of breakout shows such as #NoFilterNeha, a celebrity talk show hosted by Neha Dhupia and one of the most popular Saavn Originals. Growth is not blazing hot either — ranging 10-20% every month. It’s an unwinnable battle, surely?
Who is to blame?
But everyone in podcasting disagrees. For Amit Doshi, founder of Indus Vox Media, podcasts aren’t in competition with videos. Instead, they’re challenging the entrenched status quo of radio. “We’re looking at the 20-30% of radio listeners who are likely to be interested in talk shows, a format that’s been ignored by radio in India,” he says.
Rajesh Tahil, co-founder of Audiomatic, the only other well-known podcast production company in India, bemoans the lack of a culture of listening. For him, the blame lies mostly with public radio’s unwillingness to produce quality talk show content; in the regulation of news content (which cannot be discussed on private radio channels); and in the high cost of radio spectrum that means channels, in order to offset costs through advertising, cater to mass audiences by playing film music.
Fans in its corner
It’s not all bleak, however. One of the few hopes for the format might be that top talent is still interested in exploring and promoting it. Mae Thomas, who hosts Maed in India , a podcast that excavates the country’s best indie music, relishes the connect she has with her listeners and the close relationships she’s developed with musicians. Anuvab Pal, one of India’s top comedians, hosts his own podcast on Audiomatic, Our Last Week, with Kunal Roy Kapoor. He has even gone international, appearing on The Bugle, a long-running British podcast hosted by Andy Zaltzman.
The other, rather obvious, reason to choose podcasts over radio is that the format is inexpensive compared to video. In fact, it was one of the reasons why All India Bakchod (AIB), the comedy collective, started producing podcasts -- mostly interviews with famous personalities -- many years ago. Gursimranjeet Khamba, a co-founder, recalls that it wasn’t deliberate, but something they could do because of the low barriers to entry.
Khamba agrees that while video will continue to be more popular, audio and video will develop distinct purposes and audiences. For example, podcasts are increasingly a good way to offer in-depth reporting, such as on Saavn’s Trial by Error: The Aarushi Files (based on the Aarushi Talwar murder case) or Audiomatics’s The Intersection. Both are hosted by well-known journalists.
Looking ahead
The evolution of podcasts will be determined by two major factors: commerce and reach. For the latter, Doshi says it will be important to create regional language content. These are fraught with challenges as well, such as that of distribution, education, and marketing. Tahil says the best way to produce quality content is by getting the consumer to pay for it. He insists that’s the only way to sustain costs and to pay talent while not selling out and producing branded content. Doshi, on the other hand, appears more pragmatic and says that advertising, branded content, and events and merchandising will show the way forward. Whatever the approach, the reality is that no one is currently making money off podcasts. Moreover, as of the writing of this piece, all of Audiomatic’s five podcasts have gone silent. Tahil says they will be back soon, but it’s indicative of the troubles in the industry, where hope and gloom exist in equal measure. The next couple of years will be crucial in determining whether India finally embraces a culture of listening. If not, we might soon hear podcasters singing a tune that echoes the well-worn Video killed the radio star .
