Tap into the strategic power of podcasting

This week, we are still talking about the Digital News Report (DNR) 2023 released last week. While there are many interesting insights on digital news consumption habits, one, in particular, caught my eye; podcasts. Now we know that we are living in the ‘golden age’ of podcasting as the report describes it, but media organisations and practitioners are yet to fully grasp the potential — and economics — of podcasting.

According to the DNR, podcast listenership has grown from slightly above 25 per cent in 2018 to 34 per cent in 2023 in the UK, US, Europe and Asian markets.

From the data, podcast listenership is greater in the United States and lower in Europe due to the presence of high-quality and trusted public media systems in Europe. Podcast audiences, according to the study, are much younger, have more money and are more educated (undergraduate degrees and above).

The study has also segmented podcasts to include news round-ups, deep dives into interesting, trending topics, documentaries and extended chats from roundtable discussions. Personality-based podcasts seem to be more attractive, probably owing to the star power of the hosts. 

Funding and training

In Kenya, we have seen an uptake of podcasting and podcast listenership in recent years. While many are still struggling to understand the difference between a podcast and radio, what we do know is that audio is taking root in the country, especially among younger listeners who spend more time on their phones.

We now have organisations dedicating resources to support podcasters with funding and training. We have also seen media organisations investing in original content specifically for podcasts, as well as the necessary equipment and software.

As the DNR observes, the low barriers to this new form of storytelling have proved attractive to younger podcasters who are bringing in fresh ideas with an informal and ‘fun’ tone. We have also seen news organisations such as Nation Media Group experimenting with younger, fresh voices on podcasting.

We must take podcasting more seriously as an industry and news organisations need to approach podcasting more strategically as a way of reaching out and appealing to younger audiences.

We have seen from the previous column that Kenyans – specifically the younger demographic — are increasingly avoiding the news and depressing topics that lower their moods. While some avoid news altogether (they switch off the television or radio when news comes on), others search for news fewer times than before, while others avoid certain topics in the news.

Perhaps podcasting and experimentation with different interesting topics could be the silver bullet we have been waiting for. Before we were a digital nation, we were an audio nation first.

We carried our radios – big or small- everywhere we went and made appointments with our favourite radio presenters. A word of caution as we think about podcasting; authenticity is key. Younger audiences have been known to appreciate and even pay for authentic content. Imagine what an authentic podcast would achieve.

Dr Chege is a media and technology researcher.