podcasts 5 years | is the era of ears coming?
2024-09-15
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zhao qian, reporter of chao news client
after more than ten years of "slow running", podcasts are completing the transformation from a niche to the mainstream.
on july 23, 2024, the podcast platform himalaya, together with ritan park and ipsos, released the "2024 podcast industry report: ear time is now" (hereinafter referred to as the "report"), which believes that podcasts have penetrated into users' daily lives. himalaya staff told reporters that medium- and long-term podcasts of 30 minutes to 1 hour are more popular, and the commercial potential of podcasts is also being released. paid podcasts, podcast advertising, and branded podcasts are currently the main paths for the commercialization of chinese podcasts.
the report shows that 45.9% of the surveyed users have purchased paid podcast programs in the past year. paid podcasts often rely on program quality, long-term reputation and trust accumulation to capture users who are willing to pay for them. in terms of specific application scenarios, the audio accompaniment attribute of podcasts can free the hands and eyes of users and allow multi-threaded work. this feature has attracted a group of special listeners - busy business managers. this user group listens to business and financial podcasts much more frequently and willingly than other groups, and is also very interested in art and technology content, which is consistent with the role characteristics of business managers as "information hunters."
image from visual china
in may 2024, the podcast platform xiaoyuzhou released the "2023 xiaoyuzhou podcast awards". xiaoyuzhou added 32,610 podcasts and more than 300,000 episodes in 2023. overall, seeking resonance, enriching oneself, exploring the world, breaking the information gap, and cultivating financial and business thinking have become the main motivations for listening. among them, the search volume of business case analysis and money-making podcasts increased by 232% year-on-year in 2023, and the playback volume of single episodes containing keywords increased by 185% year-on-year, a significant increase.
as podcasts penetrate our lives like never before and become a way of life, the question that has been asked countless times appears before us again:
is this the golden age of podcasts?
zhang yi, ceo and chief analyst of imedia research, said in an interview with chao news that the emergence of podcasts is in line with the development logic of mobile internet. "its popularity in china is largely due to the popularity of smart terminals. china's broadband coverage is very wide, and 4g and 5g networks are everywhere, while many places overseas are still in the 3g era, which to some extent limits the application scope of audio technology."
in his opinion, the reason why podcasts can become popular again is that they provide users with a more convenient and comfortable way to obtain information, allowing them to enrich their fragmented time and meet their needs to learn new knowledge, explore the world and communicate widely. "from a commercial perspective, podcasts can embed a variety of profit models, including advertisements that integrate high-quality content and product exposure that integrates content influence. now many brands are also opening their own podcasts to form a consumer opinion field that integrates consumer habits and preferences, such as tesla's brand podcast "tesla giga radio" and nike's first podcast in china "nai ting"."
at a time when streaming media defines the way of communication, zhang yi believes that it is reasonable to say that the podcast era has arrived. "users are more willing to accept media with relatively low barriers to entry. looking back, whether it is long videos, short videos, medium videos, or the current micro-short dramas, they are all following this trend. therefore, in the podcast wave, the media needs to actively adapt. whether it is traditional media or new media, they must provide valuable content in order to have a lasting influence."
image from visual china
zhang hong, associate professor at the school of media and international culture of zhejiang university, believes that the transformation of mainstream media into podcasts is an important direction of media convergence. it is also an adaptation and utilization of internet media logic by traditional media, aiming to reshape the core competitiveness of traditional media. however, this transformation may face some problems. "first, there is the technical threshold. podcast recording naturally requires technical support, including research on recording equipment and editing software. for traditional media, this requires additional learning and increased cost investment; second, content innovation. podcast content must have its own appeal and uniqueness. when traditional media do podcasts, they need to maintain the authority of the media while creating content that suits the tastes of the audience; finally, improving the visibility and subscription volume of podcasts is also a major challenge. not all podcasts can achieve profitability. in addition, the advertising implantation model of podcasts is becoming increasingly diversified. traditional media need to determine their own positioning and continue to explore sustainable business models to ensure the long-term operation of podcasts."
she told the chao news reporter that for podcasts to achieve sustainable profitability, they must at least do the following:
first, maintain continuous high-quality content output, because content is the key to attracting and retaining audiences;
second, there must be a clear target audience. the podcast track is very segmented and targets different audience groups. clear positioning helps to attract advertisers in a targeted manner and improve the effectiveness of advertising.
third, we need to establish connections with listeners and enhance their sense of belonging and loyalty. especially now that podcast users tend to be younger, it is very important to build a listener community.
fourth, we need to build diversified profit channels, that is, not rely on a single profit model, use different sources of income to diversify risks, and flexibly adapt to market changes and constantly explore new profit models and content forms.
"at present, the number of podcast users is constantly expanding. with the trend of segmented and fragmented communication, the public certainly needs more personalized, customized and community-interactive media. they will also pay more attention to the information value and depth of media content. the social media attributes of podcasts and the depth and professionalism of the hosts can just meet this demand." she pointed out that from this perspective, podcasts will still have a broad space for development in the future, "but podcasts will definitely not completely replace other media, because we are in the multimedia era. its rise is actually a supplement to the existing media ecology. it will coexist and complement each other with media forms such as pictures, texts and videos."
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