Sound surrounds us, it is part of our lives. It envelops us, keeps us company, informs us, moves us and entertains us. A century ago, it was the protagonist of the first electronic mass media in the history of humanity through radio and today it shines again, in the digital age, through podcasts.
It was a British BBC journalist, Ben Hammersley, who created the expression that comes from the term “personal on demand broadcast” or “personal on demand broadcast network”.
In practice, we can say in a simplified way that a podcast really resembles radio programs, with the difference that it is produced on demand and for consumption according to the availability and interest of a listener.
Even if for some reason you are not yet a podcast consumer, you have certainly heard of them. This media format has experienced spectacular growth in recent years and has been increasingly used by content producers and in digital marketing strategies.
Before moving forward, let’s understand what a podcast is and how it works.
As already mentioned, a podcast is a means of special database in audio form, similar to radio programs, but it is produced on demand and made available to the audience on players or digital platforms, where they can be accessed for download and offline listening or directly for online listening.
The content, usually divided into episodes, can be informative, journalistic, opinion-based, entertaining or about any subject of interest to the producer or listener. It is in the format of interviews, debates, chats, individual or group narratives.
In Brazil, the most popular platforms for accessing
Podcasts are Apple Podcast, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts and YouTube, or on the websites of the companies that produce them, making it a practical and accessible medium, including because most of it is available free of charge.
People are becoming increasingly is a career in freelance digital marketing legit? here’s what to look out for of time management. Just like the success of video streams, what basically differentiates a podcast from a radio show is precisely this autonomy of the audience. You can access the content you are in whenever you want, pause it and return to it at your own pace and availability.
And from the moment that a media outlet starts offering the power of choice to its audience, the quality, quantity and variety of productions that we currently have available automatically arise.
Yes, there is something for everyone and listeners are eager for more and more relevant content. While radio has become a mass media, podcasts are increasingly reaching specific niches.
The growth of podcasts in recent years
The term podcast was almost 20 years ago, and there were around three thousand programs available at the time. Today, we have uab directory and celebrities giving more and more power to this medium, which, according to Insider Intelligence, reached 424.2 million listeners worldwide in 2022, representing 20.3% of internet users, causing a war for audience.
In Brazil, it is that the first podcast arrived in the early 2000s. But it only took off in recent years, increasing its presence by more than 500% between 2017 and 2020. Peaking during the pandemic with the gain of 7 million listeners over the age of 16.
Brazil also reached 5th place in the world ranking for growth in podcast production, according to a survey by Ibope in partnership with Globo. And Voxnest highlights us in its report as the “Country of Podcasts”, the second largest consumer, behind only the USA, and the fastest growing in production in the world, ahead of England and Canada.
Market consolidation during the pandemic
Sound has always had the characteristic of not competing with other actions. It is a medium that integrates with what you are doing, that can accompany you and keep you company at different times of your day.
2019 was already being the year of podcasts. The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 its growth even further. The likely fatigue from screens caused by work and study processes during confinement also to attracting more audiences.