BARUA YA BARAZA: Podcasting Trends 2024
Greetings, friends:
This week, the Baraza Media Lab hosted a PodConnect event titled Podcasting Trends 2024, featuring Doris Onyango, Production Manager at SemaBox, and Kiplagat J. Kiprop, Product Manager at SemaBox, moderated by Gathoni Ngumba, Community Manager at Afripods. The session brought to light exciting new trends and strategies shaping the future of podcasting in Africa and beyond. Here’s a roundup of a few of the key takeaways shared by the stellar panel:
– Interview Style Still Dominates: The interview format remains the most popular and recognizable style in podcasting. However, there’s an increasing interest in experimenting with narrative and storytelling formats, signaling growth and diversity in content production.
– Maximize Your Distribution: While YouTube continues to be the largest platform for podcast distribution, it’s essential to make your podcast available across all platforms. Whether your episodes are long or short, ensure they’re accessible not only on YouTube but also on Spotify; if you’re based in Africa, Afripods and Wazo too, and anywhere else you can think to publish them.
– Embrace Language Diversity: More creators are producing podcasts in local (I won’t say ‘vernacular’) languages. Contrary to limiting your audience, this approach could attract a strong following from diaspora communities looking to reconnect with life back home.
– AI in Podcasting: Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing podcast production, from editing and captioning to generating entire episodes. However, with these advances come challenges, particularly the potential for AI-driven misinformation. On the positive side, AI is aiding discovery by curating personalized content for listeners.
– Better, Smaller Equipment: Podcasting equipment is getting more sophisticated yet smaller and more portable. Manufacturers are now focusing specifically on podcasters, creating high-quality, affordable tools designed for podcast production rather than traditional broadcasting.
– The Importance of Marketing: To succeed in podcasting today, marketing is key. Invest in platforms like Meta for Business, YouTube ads, Google Ads, and even your WhatsApp status. It might be wiser to produce an audio-only podcast and allocate the rest of your budget to marketing efforts. Organic discovery is no longer enough; podcasters need to actively, even aggressively, promote their content.
– Focus on Accessibility: Consider accessibility options such as captions and creating low-data podcasts, especially given the high cost of internet data in many regions. Some creators are sharing 5-minute podcasts via WhatsApp or even using USSD codes for audiences with limited data access.
These trends highlight where podcasting is headed and offer practical insights for creators looking to stay ahead and adapt in a changing industry. There were many more insights shared, you can watch the whole conversation here.
In the meantime, here’s:
What I’m Reading: Main Character Syndrome: “Why romanticising your own life is philosophically dubious, setting up toxic narratives and an inability to truly love.” This is the kind of essay I love Aeon Magazine for.
What I’m Watching: Inside Out 2, a movie that I watched on a quasi-legal streaming platform that I can’t exactly link here, but trust me when I say this was one beautiful, heartfelt, charming, hilarious film that will have you feeling all the feels. As one reviewer put it, “Inside Out’s portrayal of our emotions was done so incredibly well that it almost hurt to see them play out on screen.”
What I’m Listening to: Over My Dead Body, on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The truth is, I listen to way too many true crime podcasts. I know all the critiques against them. And yet…
My best,
Christine Mungai
Curator | Baraza Media Lab