Growing Numbers of Podcast Listeners In India.

Last month on 28th April, the exchange for media group English Journalism 40 under 40 summit, honoured and celebrated journalists and media persons from across all media, from print to digital. The highlight of the summit was an award to the Indian Express podcast producer. The Three things podcast from the Express is one of the leading news podcasts for three years now. The award highlighted the growing market for podcasts in India with non-fiction dominating.

Besides Three Things, In Focus by the Hindu, HT Smart Podcast and The Times of India Podcast are some of the prominent names in news podcasts.

According to PWC’s Media and Entertainment outlook 2020 report, India is now the third-largest audio producing market in the world after China and US with 57.6 million monthly listeners in 2020.

The Covid pandemic saw the audio and podcast industry grow in leaps and bounds in India. According to a KPMG’s Media and Entertainment report, 2020, India recorded a 29.3% increase in podcast consumption during the first year of the pandemic. According to research, During the pandemic,  podcast hosting platforms like Anchor, JVM’s podcast, Bound and HT’s Smart podcast added a significant number of listeners.

IVM listeners for instance grew by 30% during the lockdown, Spotify-owned Anchor added more than 25000 podcasts in 2020, HT Smartcast’s listenership jumped to 1 million monthly listens in March 2020 and 6 million monthly listens in March 2021. Similarly, Jio Saavan has seen its podcast catalogue increase by 200 times since 2019.

One of the possible reasons for the hike in podcast listenership is believed to be India’s amity with Radio shows. Second, listening to audio is an intimate and personal experience. Moreover, there are lesser distractions than watching a video in audio. Further, the availability of free podcast production platforms like Spotify's Anchor, Audioboom, Buzzsprout and Podbean has also contributed to listenership. Appetite for personal growth during covid is also attributed as one of the reasons for the hike in podcast listenership.