The rise of podcasts and podcast marketing

The voice is a key element in communication from time immemorial, from the stories that, in the past, served to transmit knowledge to the community, up to the vocal notes that today allow us to speak with people on the other side of the world. The voice continues to be the protagonist thanks to podcasts. We know this phenomenon better.

The New York magazine, in an article reported by Vulture on the growth of online podcasts , says: "These simple audio fragments have proved to be the most significant and exciting cultural innovation of the new century". It is estimated that there are currently more than 660,000 podcasts in production, that is to say about 28 million episodes usable on demand . We have infinite choices and hundreds of topics to follow. This is why podcasts can become an excellent tool to communicate with your audience and retain them.

But what is a podcast?

The word podcast derives from the union of iPod (remember it?) And broadcast and refers to those audio tracks that made their appearance during the digital music revolution. Their date of birth is unclear, but the first to coin this term in 2004 was journalist Ben Hammersley of The Guardian newspaper. Some argue that the authors were Adam Curry, MTV's Vj and software developer David Winer, who in the same year began distributing podcasts through an RSS feed.

An online podcast is a periodic digital audio publication downloadable from the Internet. It is like a radio program, with the difference that it is published on a website or on platforms such as iTunes and Spotify so that the user can download it and listen to it whenever he wants.

Podcasts usually delve into specific themes: their goal is to attract a very segmented audience and, over time, to passionate and retain it. We can find podcasts on everything that interests us: digital marketing, technology, sports, literature and much more.

Is it the same as a radio show? The answer is no, although obviously there are aspects in common. Firstly, podcasts are usually not broadcast live but are recorded and uploaded to platforms to allow the user to listen to them when they prefer. They also often deal with niche themes, hardly in radio programming.

“Varying the topics is very important. Now there is a limited number of radios , and the few left, to survive, try to always deal with the same themes: those that work the most and that are most profitable. Podcasts allow you to tackle very different topics and with a better understanding , "says journalist Ángel Jiménez de Luis, co-founder of Cuonda, a podcast community in Spain.

 

The podcast is an agile and easy-to-use format, which allows you to get informed with little effort. This is why many people listen to podcasts during their free time and while doing other activities. 

The rise of online podcasts: here are the numbers

Gradually, the podcast has gained more and more loyal audiences. A according to research carried out by Nielsen and commissioned by Audible, the Amazon company operating in the audiobook market, since 2015 the usual podcast listeners have gone from 850,000 to 2,700,000 , with a growth of 217%.

But who are the users? The penetration of podcasts is greater in the younger age groups. Again according to Nielsen's research , those who listen to them are mainly between 18 and 40 years old, with an increasing trend for the 18-25 year old segment. Among the listeners it emerges that 66% prefer home walls as a place of use, 28% prefer to listen to them in the car, while 18% prefer public transport. These data confirm their extreme ease of use in various situations, even on the move, unlike another in-depth activity such as reading.

The success of the podcasts has prompted Spotify, the famous streaming music platform, to recognize its potential and to incorporate this type of content in its offer. In February 2019 the company acquired both the podcast production company Gimlet Media, and the Anchor company, specialized in the creation of software and tools for the production and distribution of podcasts. In a recent statement, Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify, said that "more than 20% of all Spotify plays will be tied to non-musical content in the short term ".

Online podcasts as a content strategy

Thanks to its success, and the ability to intercept and retain well-segmented audiences, the podcast has become one of the most interesting formats for brand marketing strategies.

According to a Reuters Institute report , 75% of respondents believe that audio will become an increasingly important tool in content strategies . And for 78%, this will be possible thanks to the growth of voice control technology.

It's not too late: you can still position yourself easily and be successful with the podcast. It is an excellent opportunity to propose yourself as an expert in the sector and reach your audience through a new communication channel, offering a 360 ° experience.

If you want to know more about this topic and how to emerge in the market, we recommend this podcast by Francesco Tassi, CEO of Fortune .

At WAM we got down to business and wanted to launch our podcast on digital marketing. A new episode will be released every month and will be our space to share news and trends through the voice of our team experts and industry authorities. You can already listen to episode # 0: let's talk about the rise of podcasts and why we decided to try this new format. Click Play and enjoy!