With the advent of different kinds of new media in the last decade, there has been an overdose of content through streaming services and cable television. The fatigue is already showing, with subscriptions on services like Netflix and Amazon Prime seeing a fall after the sharp rise during the Covid-19 lockdowns. According to The Atlantic, streaming services have lost almost $20 billion in revenue in the last two years.
In this environment of excess content and choice, most of which has to be separately paid for, podcasts have emerged as a new alternative, offering entertainment, news and information on a variety of subjects. This has made them the most innovative and popular form of infotainment.
This is surprising because podcasts do not seem to be attractive at first. They are purely auditory, with no visuals, action or colour to draw an audience. They are also not interactive, as video games are. Yet, podcasts are dominating the media industry.
Podcasts cover a range of topics: from news, sports, comedy and culture, there is something in it for everyone. In fact, the true crime podcast ‘Serial’ was one of the first podcasts to define the genre.
The biggest advantage of podcasts is that they can be listened to while doing something else, including driving or daily household chores. Listeners find that they are managing their time well by multitasking, reducing the guilt of being on social media.
There is also a clear division in the audience for podcasts based on age. Predictably, youngsters between 19 and 30 years make up the largest pool of podcast listeners. They typically listen to current events and entertainment topics. People over 65 years listen to podcast for news and to learn about different topics.
Podcasts are also excellent learning tools. This is because they are available at all times, can be stopped and repeated on demand and are easily portable – it is almost like carrying a lecture in a bag. Videos and class notes need one’s full attention, but studies have shown that students can even listen to a 3-hour podcast, mainly while engaging in other routine activities like exercising or washing dishes.
Like everything else, podcasts have their limitations too: they are not accessible to everybody as they are based only on audio content, internet speed could also be an issue, leading to interruptions in the flow.
For content creators, podcasts are difficult to copyright and ideas can be easily borrowed. Also, there are so many podcasts out there that finding the right audience could be a challenge. Other social media will have to be used to advertise the product.
Overall, the high tide of even streaming media seems to have reached a peak and is getting less popular. Forbes suggests that “it’s possible that people were just feeling burnt out from media of all types or that they needed to hit their internal reset buttons”. While they do so, podcasts have taken the place of traditional and new media by providing new content and new ways of looking at the world.
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