India is estimated to have 95 million monthly active users (MAUs) for online audio content by the end of 2021.
This includes podcasts, audiobooks and other audio-based online entertainment and is a 34% increase from the 71 million recorded last year, according to an analysis by market research firm RedSeer.
The company said that only 12% of the Indian population has “ever listened to a podcast”, indicating there is “a lot of room for growth”.
It said that Indians spent 2,290 billion minutes of online entertainment in 2021.
Social media took up the majority of users’ time at 885 billion minutes, followed by messaging, over-the-top (OTT) video, news aggregation apps and short-video platforms. Podcasts spent 2.5 billion minutes online in October alone.
“To gain popularity and keep content development costs down, Indian platforms started with both User Generated Content (UGC) and Professionally Generated Content (PGC) models. However, UGC content hinders the platform’s ability to preserve brand value and quality,” the research firm said.
“Platforms are increasingly devoting more resources to producing high-quality content and bringing in celebrities to narrate and host shows. Some platforms, such as Headphones and Khabri, are integrated into the UGC’s robust filtering and recommendation engine. are investing.
According to founder Anish Chandy, Labyrinth Literary Agency, which provides author representation and editorial services in books and films, often encourages its authors to podcast. Writers who specialize in a particular field or domain do well on podcasts and while some even monetize podcasts, most are using podcasts to gain wider reach, he said.
“There’s a perception, whether right or wrong, that if it’s an intelligently done podcast, it means you know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Chandy said podcasts on finance, angel investing, advertising and marketing, and history do well.
However, podcasting is not a quick solution to gain wider reach, he said. Most creators who do well on podcasts already have a large following on other platforms, such as Instagram or Twitter, because they can take advantage of that reach to promote their podcasts.
In addition, RedSeer’s analysis noted that platforms also play a role.
It said, “Indian players have successfully built low data usage apps to deliver podcast content with diversification of local language and celebrity-driven content.” “The mix of free and premium models to subscribe allows new users to experiment and enjoy this new look.” of entertainment,” it said.
In its third-quarter earnings report, global streaming firm Spotify had said it saw “significant traction” for original podcasts in India and Latin America. It said that the Mythpat podcast is one of the top performing shows on its platform in the Indian market.
RedSeer’s report isn’t the first to predict a significant increase in such content. In its September 2020 Media and Entertainment report, KPMG stated that podcasts will be one of the major listening trends to watch after the pandemic.
The firm said it has recorded a 23% increase in podcast listening after COVID-19 took people indoors.
However, Chandy cautioned that while there is no doubt that listenership for the podcast is growing, it is growing from a small base. “Off-hand, if someone says there are 95 million unique podcast listeners in India, I would ask how do you define a listener, how many minutes is it. It feels a little high,” he said.
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