2019 was the year of the podcast boom in India. India has seen a massive growth in the number of consumers for audio contents. With the addition of podcasts in the mainstream music sharing apps in the country, podcasting also has become a mainstream digital content for the audience of the sub continent region.
Storytelling has always been a very popular medium of sharing knowledge, information and experiences since the existence of the human population. With the development of human societies followed by the introduction of technology to human lives, the form of storytelling has changed a lot over the years. Podcasting is the newest form of storytelling as well as knowledge sharing among the human population.
Podcasting, an audio form of content featuring stories,documentaries, experiences and other forms of knowledge sharing is becoming very popular amongst the millennials all over the globe. Everyone is busy. Nobody has much time for long forms of contents. 21st century people are more interested in contents that they can consume on the go. This is an era of digital contents and podcasting is the newest addition to it.
Podcasting has the largest market share in the U.S in the digital content space. By 2020, 75% of the U.S population are aware of podcasting. 88 millions of podcast listeners were reported in 2019 in the U.S. However, India is still at the very initial stage of podcast revolution. With the rise of the internet as well as mobile penetration in the country, the podcast in Hindi starts seeing a rapid rise in audience. Recent Indian podcast listener statistics point towards a massive boom in podcasting in India. Being the youngest nation as well as a massive consumer of digital contents, India is on the way to become one of the largest markets of podcast creators as well as platforms.
Podcast platforms in india:
Besides global players like Spotify,Apple and Indian homegrown players like Jio Savan, Gaana.com, there are some platforms specifically dedicated to podcasting.
1.Aawaz.com: With over 300 hours of audio contents, this on demand platform has seen a rapid rise of hindi story listening audience.Its contents include historical stories, ghost stories, interviews,stand up comedy, health, devotional and others. Launched in 2019, this platform at present has more than 100000 downloads. This platform is the best choice for them who like to listen to podcasts in Hindi.
2.Headfone: A home grown platform where you can record stories,listen to audio contents and podcasts in vernacular languages. Founded by ex Facebook employees Pratham Khandelwal and Yogesh Sharma in 2018, Headfone has managed to raise $750K of seed funding from Fosun RZ. As per the founders, an active user spends approximately 50 minutes per day on this platform. With 500000 downloads on google play store and 50000 active userbase, Headfone is currently one of the largest player in the audio streaming scene in India.
3.Hubhopper: With over 100000 downloads, this platform offers a wide array of contents, this Indian podcasting platform features almost all kinds of contents in audio form like podcasts, audiobooks, radio online with a personalised experience for its listeners.Started as a social media platform, Hubhopper soon converted to an AI based podcasting platform. It hosts over 50 million hours of podcasts, audiobooks, news and stories in more than 15 languages.
4.Suno india: A multilingual and multigenerational podcast platform which solely focuses on the issues that matter. It shares its podcasts on google podcast, spotify, castbox and other podcasting platforms along with on its own Suno India website. Stories that are underrated, issues that are less talked about, issues that are under-reported in mainstream media are the major content sources of suno India.
Some of the famous Podcast shows in the country:
1.Ek kahani aisi bhi: An internationally acclaimed series of spine chilling original horror stories, this podcast series is now available for audiences on almost every podcasting platform. With the powerful voice of Rj Praveen and extremely powerful sound and background effects, these stories are so impactful that you can visualise everything in front of your eyes. Earlier aired on Red Fm, this podcast series managed to get best innovation award in 2015 and 2016 and was a finalist for best narration at New york festival and ACEF award for creativity.
2.Yaadon ka idiot box: A radio show launched in 2011 by big fm became very popular amongst the indian millennials. The narration of Neelesh Mishra and the stories from an imaginary city with relatable imaginary thoughts is now available on every major storytelling and audio streaming platforms in the country. These stories became very popular in the Indian subcontinent region and later launched as a book series as “Yaad Seher”.
3.Maed in India: Being the first music podcast in India, Maed in India showcases best independent musicians from India and abroad. Independent music and independent artists are always underrated and mostly remain undiscovered in the mess of bollywood music. This weekly show presents an interview with an independent artist followed by an acoustic session and a lot of untold stories related to music. It features all genres of music from rock,punk,blues hip hop to folk and devotional music.
4.The Ranveer Show: An initiative by Ranveer allahabadia aka Beerbiceps, each episode of this show brings up to you some of the famous personalities from various sectors of the country. This show hosts some of the most intellectual conversations over the indian internet scene. Mainly focussed on the indian millennials, this show is available on every audio streaming platforms as well as on his youtube channel BeerBiceps.
Conclusion: Podcasting market in India is still at the very initial phase. The scene of podcasts in India is improving with the rapid rise of various podcasting platforms as well as podcast creators in the country.