Podcasting in the Indian context
Podcast listening habits, Indian podcast numbers and this fortnight's Indian and international podcast recommendations
Welcome to the second edition of the Indian Podcasting newsletter.
One thing I noticed for the first couple of months since the lockdown was that my daily podcast-listening habit had gone for a toss, as most of the time spent listening to podcasts was during the commute to and from work. On days when my phone or Bluetooth earphones died on me or were low on charge, I’d feel anxious without any podcasts to listen to. This was pretty much a ritual for the last few years.
I find it a bit odd to listen to a podcast when I am sitting quietly and not doing any mechanical task. The same holds true for audiobooks. Years of listening to podcasts while on-the-go has got so ingrained in me, that it took quite a while getting adjusted to the new reality. Now that things are easing up and I can go for a walk in the evenings, I have resumed listening to podcasts daily for more than a couple of hours.
And it wasn’t just me. Globally, thanks to the cut-down on the morning and evening commute times due to work-from-home or shelter-in-place notifications, podcast-listening times had taken a hit. Another trend in the US, as seen in this Podtrac report was that while news-based podcasts saw massive growth in the US, fictional podcasts saw a comparative drop. There are no India-specific numbers as such. But according to an interview in Quartz, Indus Vox Media’s co-founder Amit Doshi had said that IVM podcasts hadn’t seen as much of a dip in listenership since the lockdown.
Did any of you notice a change in your podcast-listening habits post-lockdown? I’d love to know in the comments.
Podcasts and the Indian context
40,000,000
Forty million. That was the active podcast listener base in India by the end of 2018, according to a PwC report. I didn’t come across any other study around the podcast listener numbers after this, in the Indian context. It’s safe to assume that that number has certainly grown, especially since 2018 we have seen news players such as Audible also getting into this space with their Suno service since 2019; Spotify India doubling down on podcasts, among other developments. In fact, Spotify’s latest earnings report a doubling in the number of hours of podcast consumption.
In terms of the total number of podcast listeners, India is ranked third, after the US and China. Now, that may make a lot of you go wow! But we have to take into consideration that we have the second-highest number of internet users globally, after China. We are around 560 million internet users. So that comes to around just 7-8 percent of the total internet-connected population listening to podcasts. By contrast, in the US around 55 percent of the population is tuned in to podcasts according to 2020 stats.
It’s evident that India has massive scope for growth and we are just getting started. While English language podcasts may have been a big component of the Indian podcast industry a few years ago, the needle is swinging towards regional language content.
One good thing that I have been seeing over the last couple of years is that news organisations have embraced podcasts as a distribution channel. Whether it’s the Moneycontrol Podcast, 3 Things by Indian Express, The Hindu’s In Focus podcast or Firstpost’s Masterclass podcast, news audiences who wouldn’t otherwise bother downloading a podcast app are discovering this medium.
Audible launched Suno last year which is a free app and features some impressive lineup. Suno entered the market with big-ticket names such as Amitabh Bachchan, Anurag Kashyap, Anupama Chopra, Neelesh Mishra. I had an opportunity to speak to Audible India head, Shailesh Sawalani, on the sidelines of the launch last year. I was intrigued at his resistance to calling Suno a podcast network. The naming convention aside, Suno has some really rich audio story-telling. I will explore it in-depth in a future newsletter.
The reason I spent a paragraph on Audible Suno was that it sort of completes a circle. Audio story-telling was a very popular genre in India before TVs came on to the scene. I remember my parents and grand-parents reminiscing about listening to radio dramas on Radio Ceylon or Ameen Sayani’s Binaca Geetmala musical shows which were tempered with anecdotes from the film industry back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Traditionally, India has had an oral story-telling culture. It’s just a matter of time before that gets reflected in the podcast ecosystem here.
Important developments in India
Just like its music counterpart, Spotify has launched a podcast focussed charts. This service is live in India as well with podcasts divided into Top Podcasts and Trending Podcasts.
While podcasts associated with Libsyn will be available for Gaana listeners, this isn’t an exclusive partnership - so you can still listen to these podcasts on non-Gaana podcast apps.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched a podcast series that will help students learn while listening to the lectures offered by the varsity. The institute said that the podcast series is aimed at its “diverse learner base” and is part of its Open Educational Resources initiative.
Important developments globally
I had elaborated on how Serial podcast really got me into podcasting in the first edition of the newsletter. Now NYT has acquired the production house behind it and has already announced the first podcast coming out of this partnership. NYT has also formed a ‘creative and strategic alliance with This American Life’. Your guess is as good as mine, as to what that means.
Indian Podcasts in focus
Mission Shunya
I came to know about Mission Shunya from a friend and quite liked the topics being covered in it. The podcast focuses on ways of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy. It’s an interview-based format where episodes feature experts in fields as varied as renewable energy, electric vehicles, sustainable development, climate change, circular economy and more. Girish Shivakumar, the Bengaluru-based creator of the podcast, is a Chevening scholar and masters graduate from the University of Cambridge.
Some interesting episodes I’ve heard on Mission Shunya:
Amazon Rainforests Wildfire: How does it affect us all
Impact of COVID on small-scale solar rooftop market
Next week’s newsletter will feature an in-depth interview with Girish Shivakumar, the one-man team behind Mission Shunya.
The Intersection
Just like Serial got me hooked on to podcasting in general, The Intersection, was a podcast that made me explore the world of Indian podcasts. A few years ago, podcast network Audiomatic had The Intersection and many other interesting podcasts. Now it seems like Suno has licensed all their shows. Journalists Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian (I’m a huge fan of his long-form reportage) explored topics which would be an amalgamation of history, science and culture. The episodes are short but each one will leave you buzzing with lots of lightbulb moments after you are done listening.
Some interesting episodes I’ve heard on The Intersection:
Mission Impossible: Surveying Indian languages and dialects
How the Spanish Flu affected India’s freedom struggle
International Podcasts for the fortnight
Before lockdown, I wouldn’t seek out new podcasts actively every other week. But over the last couple of months, I’m always on the lookout for interesting podcasts. Here are three limited-episodes podcasts that you can binge on.
Winds of Change - What if you were told that The Scorpions’ hit song Winds of Change could have been written by the CIA as part of cold-war propaganda? This podcast explores that premise and takes you down an intriguing rabbit hole.
The Horror of Dolores Roach - A wonderfully scripted fiction podcast with a story about an ex-convict Dolores Roach trying to start anew in expensive New York City. Themes explored include love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest. Yes, cannibalism.
Articles of Interest - An offshoot of 99 Percent Invisible, this podcast is a kick-ass exploration of things you will barely give a second thought to, such as kids’ clothing, pockets, blue jeans, Hawaii shirts, perfumes, suits and more.
That’s all for this week’s newsletter. It would be great to hear your feedback and what you would like to know more about in future editions of Indian Podcasting.
Have a great week ahead and happy listening.
Cover image: Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels
This is great stuff Nimish! I've been totally clued out of the Indian podcasting scene. But about 3 years ago, I was hooked on to Tim Ferriss' podcast which someone introduced me to as the most curated source of knowledge on the internet. Keen to check out the recommendations. In terms of what I'd like to know, a list of business podcasts from India would be good - anything tech, startups, media.