You must have recently heard the news that Joe Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify for $100 million dollars and many people's first reaction was "Oh what ! for a podcast, seriously " especially in India where I live because in India podcast is still not at all popular with the common people, it has a very niche following, only the urban educated crowd but it's popularity is growing fast.
So, coming back to Joe Rogan , he is very popular and even though he has a very big fan following , people themselves don't consider podcast as a medium itself very big especially compared to a video. Okay let me put it this way, so how many of the famous podcasting apps are in top charts, not even one but you will find TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. etc all in top charts which all have photo and video features. Yes Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast are very big apps which have good podcast content but my point is there is no podcast only app in top charts. In other words the podcast has a very deep underlying potential to blow up big as a medium, it is basically a radio on Internet, so technically its a very old medium and its full potential hasn't still been realised yet.
In western countries especially in the USA the podcasting platform has quite a big following in the market there is quite mature, people do listen to podcast while driving, cooking, walking. etc. but in India its still in the nascent stage. One obvious advantage of podcast is you can listen to it and do something productive at the same time, especially those work which doesn't need much thinking like mentioned above.
Another advantage of podcast is that it is quite easy to produce and inexpensive, yes of course you can have expensive mics and setup to make it quite a wonderful experience but to start you just need a mic , be it in a phone or a earphone. Podcast also has started a new trend of Audiobooks, we all know many people have quite tight schedules so reading a book is not in everybody's itinerary but companies like Audible which is owned by Amazon are solving the problem, by making audio version of books and that helps many who don't have the time to read , listen to valuable content without disturbing their normal routine, they can easily learn something new and do something else at the same time. Also Podcast can be streamed in a low bandwidth internet connection unlike video which are data heavy. In a situation where you are standing in a crowded place (hopefully not during this pandemic) like a metro or a bus while travelling you can just listen to it without risking taking out your phone in the bum to bum human traffic.
We also recently started a new Podcast "Don't Be Serious" with my team members Ambar Chakrabharti and Yash Gaur , the reason is that its quite fun producing it as humans as social animals love to talk and so why not just record it and put it out there in the world for others to listen. This helps in creating a bond with your like minded community and most importantly it helps in generation of ideas which for us creative people its a welcome need. Also it helps you to speak out your mind out which we all should do , be transparent and have a great trust with your audience and your community.
Podcast is a platform which gives you more than just entertainment, it gives you good knowledge, others point of view, good ASMR and much more. But I don't know why it is not taking off as any other photo-video platforms. I don't have the answer but I am telling you its potential is underestimated and if you are not listening to it, then you should just start right now. Or you might start recording our own podcast, share your knowledge it might help many people and who knows you might become a new podcast star. Podcast has a lot to offer than you think.
Cheers !
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