Peace in a pod

To make their shuttle bearable, increasingly Bengalureans are tuning out of site visitors and into audio content. On the menu are diverse subjects – from storytelling and entrepreneurship to travel and politics

A 10-minute shuttle from house to work – what could be a dream for many Bengalureans is not so for Sameer Bhiwani, who if truth be told misses his earlier 45-minute power from Murgeshpalya to Whitefield. No, Bhiwani (39) is not “mad”, as he laughingly confesses his spouse calls him. Bhiwani (VP of design and buyer experience for an internet funding service) simply misses the uninterrupted time he used to get to hear podcasts (with the speed larger, so he may just consume more in less time) when his place of job was in Whitefield. Yogesh Parmar, a 35-year-old behavioural scientist, says the “greatest motivation” for him to power to Chennai and back two weeks ago, was that he would have the ability to pay attention to Seth Godin’s podcast in full. The trap, for both of them, is the chance to hear informative content that is helping them tune out from the rest of the world, while maximising time spent in Bengaluru’s greatest bane – site visitors. Others agree, which is why ultimate month, 70 individuals who create podcasts, pay attention to them and corporations within the industry of audio content came in combination within the city.

Naga Subramanya BB (29) of ‘The Passion People’, says the meet, carried out by means of city-based O2 Pod Collective (an initiative to create an ecosystem for the growth of podcasting in India), was the biggest such meetup within the country. “People had additionally come from Delhi and Mumbai,” he says. Started by means of Subramanya, Saif Omar and Faiza Khan of ‘The Musafir Stories’, and brothers Vishnu and Shankar Padmanabhan of ‘Writer & Geek Show’, the collective conducts podcasting workshops and awareness drives within the city, and is in talks with company companies to launch their audio shows.

Certainly, video has now not killed the audio megastar. In phrases of podcast listenership, India ranks fifth on Audioboom, a UK-headquartered platform to create, host and monetise podcasts, after the US, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. “But we are hoping that India will transform No 4 by means of the top of 2019,” says Aman Goklani, head of India operations. Currently, Audioboom hosts over 50 content creators from India. “One-third of those shows come from organisations, the remaining from individuals from the top cities. Since ultimate July-August, information media too is showing interest. We now host six, and are in talks with at least two more.”

Why audio?

So is listening the brand new studying, or watching? Padmanabhan believes all codecs can co-exist. “Each medium can exist and to find its own target audience,” he says. Parmar too believes it is a “false dichotomy”. The “sheer eclecticism” of what’s on be offering assists in keeping him hooked to podcasts. “I pay attention to nearly everything around the board, related to economics, society, art, movie and track – after which writers corresponding to Malcom Gladwell and Tim Ferris,” he says. Bhiwani has an identical reasons. “Books are deep concept pieces that you might want pause and replicate upon. But taking note of podcasts while I’m in site visitors is helping me tune out from the world,” he says, mentioning the “soothing quality” of ‘99% Invisible by means of Roman Mars’, and ‘User Defenders’.” Especially in Bengaluru, Bhiwani believes it will probably assist take your thoughts off of site visitors and as a substitute “allow you to exchange your standpoint.” Parmar likens it to therapy. “It’s a spiritual experience, virtually, where there's no other sensory stimulus involved.”

Karthik Vijayakumar of 'Design Your Thinking’ podcast has just lately started an internet path on podcasting. It's unfastened now however he plans to monetise it in a few months.

The same is the case with audiobooks. Yogesh Dashrath, country manager, Storytel India (which came to India in November 2017), says Bengaluru has been doing really well in terms of a demand for audiobooks. “It’s a really perfect marketplace where individuals are tech savvy and there’s numerous site visitors, which creates an opening for constant leisure”, he says. “You can make a choice the guide you favor and revel in it at your personal comfort. We all revel in tales, however now not all of us have the persistence or time to if truth be told sit through an entire guide. Audiobooks come in useful when you'll revel in mostly-known voices studying to you while stuck in site visitors, while looking ahead to a flight, or in 0 network zones.” He adds that the growth of podcasts has helped audiences “heat as much as audiobooks”. “The more folks the pay attention, the more any trade which has to do with audio will receive advantages.”

That contains folks corresponding to Gagan and Shruti Chopra, who put their five-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son to sleep by means of enjoying podcast tales in Hindi as much as two times per week. Gagan, an IT professional, would earlier call her mom or better half's mother and ask them to narrate Hindi tales to the kids over the telephone from Delhi, “as a result of our elders know way over we do, and because there aren’t sufficient Hindi books to be had in shops”. But now, they transfer off the lighting and play podcasts. “It provides their eyes a smash too,” Gagan says. He says youngsters to find the voice of a pro storyteller “far more dramatic.”

Subramanya attributes the interest in audio to “Internet get right of entry to, cheap information plans, smartphones and digital house assistants corresponding to Alexa and Siri”. Plus, content is diversifying in languages corresponding to Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. “Thriller and horror tale podcasts are doing great (Nikesh Murali’s ‘Indian Noir’) and travel podcasts are a hit. A large number of podcasts on information and politics are gaining traction.” Factor Daily has additionally long past audio-only.

Meet the makers

For the ones making them, podcasts are a technique to percentage their views and pursuits with the world. And that takes work. In his unfastened time, chartered accountant Subramanya hunts for enterprising folks for his communicate display, spends half an afternoon with them for research, data the interview, edits and responds to his listeners on social media. He isn’t a RJ however he’s getting the attention. “Listeners come to the meetup to see who's the face in the back of the voice is. On social media, I give recommendation to ingenious folks and fasten them to industry partners.” His listeners are of their 20s and 30s, searching for self-help content and highbrow conversations. They are mostly from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, and the rest 20 in step with cent come from the US and the United Kingdom. “They tune in while commuting to work, on the health club or all through bedtime,” he stocks.

Seventy folks attended the O2 Collective meetup within the city ultimate month

Pratham Khandewal, cofounder of Bengaluru-based Headfone, an Android app that allows you to create and percentage audio content, has 1.five lakh active listeners, and believes the call for for audio content will only building up. “Seventy in step with cent of our content is user-generated (UGC) – produced without refined equipment. Send us your recording and after vetting it, we upload it on our app,” he says. “Podcasts are normally made by means of the urban folks – storytellers and RJs, on subjects of inspiration, politics and tales (love, horror and ancient stories are most heard). UGC, alternatively, is being made by means of introverts living by myself in apartments in Tier-2 cities, or by means of extroverts, who simply wish to talk their thoughts on everyday issues.”

In 2017, Padmanabhan (28), co-founder and host of ‘Writer & Geek’, got on board his brother Vishnu’s (additionally co-host and co-founder) thought to upload the conversations they had about space, history and generation, to the web for others to pay attention. Two dynamic mics and a mixer make up their equipment with which they upload 30 minutes to hour-long episodes on everything from pop culture to the history of toothbrushes, unravel serial killer tales and more. Research can take anything else from per week to a month-and-a-half, depending at the subject. The content too has undergone a lot tweaking, prior to the brothers nailed down what works for them –
“a conversational taste with a little of humour where the target audience additionally feels a part of what's going on”.

Karthik Vijayakumar of ‘Design Your Thinking’ says podcasting is “not anything however two or 3 folks coming in combination”. And so chances are high that when interviewees come on a display or percentage the podcast later of their network, their followers can add to the traction. “For instance, this season, I had comic Atul Khatri, who has over 2 million followers,” the 38-year-old says.

Show me the cash
Not that the numbers are sufficient for podcasters to trade of their day jobs. So most do it part-time, like Subramanya. Vyas’s day process is that of country manager for a non-profit, while Pandit is a chance management professional. Omar runs a circle of relatives industry and Khan is a techie. A few have crossed over. Vijayakumar started podcasting while on a occupation smash in 2016 and hasn’t long past back to the cubicle. He interviews Indian and foreign creators, marketers and non-conformists for classes his listeners can remove. From clocking 3,000 listeners a month in 2017 to nine,000 in 2018 and 6,000 this yr (after a smash), his display has aged smartly.

One factor led to every other and now Vijayakumar is consulting with companies and doing workshops on ‘Design Thinking’. “So very by chance, I have controlled to monetise my podcasts.” Next, he has a plan. “I have just lately started an internet path on podcasting. Over 60 folks have signed up and the majority are non-Indians. It’s a unfastened path however I plan to monetise it in a few months.”

Padmanabhan has plans too. When they started, most listeners were from the US. Today, the 70/30 ratio between listeners from the US and listeners from India has changed to 60/40, and they get 1,000 downloads every week for an episode. While he shuns “promoting” as a result of it is “intrusive”, he is looking at a subscription model for his podcast. Other avenues come with creating podcasts for corporations, (end-to-end or simply production), coaching, building a logo in accordance with his experience in certain spaces, or doing events and livestreams.

There are the ones like Amar Vyas, who says that within the three-and-a-half years he’s been making ‘Baalgatha’ – a weekly collection of podcasts (for kids aged between 3 and 12 years) along with his spouse Minu Pandit, they’ve spent only `1,500 on Facebook advertisements. They earn a living through syndications or logo collaborations. “We’ve grown by means of word-of-mouth, one guardian recommending the opposite. Now, we get 60,000-65,000 listens every month,” says Vyas (40). Their listeners are mostly folks within the age-group of 25-45 from Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. They have printed over 500 audio tales in English, Hindi and Marathi and are now trying out in Kannada, Telugu, and Gujarati. They’ve additionally performed Chinese and Egyptian versions of Cindrella. After enticing youngsters, the couple is ready to roll out Startup Nibbles, a market-oriented podcast for 25-35-year-olds.

Subramanya believes “podcasting is poised to blow up, like YouTube did”, and when it does, kids like him, of their 20s and 30s, may have the first-mover merit.

Sounds of the longer term

Until then, so much nonetheless continues to be performed. In the US, Audioboom gets greater than 35 million listens every month as opposed to 1.five or 1.7 million in India, with Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi their greatest base. “It’s a big quantity within the podcasting trade however now not as a lot when in comparison to other medium. A video on YouTube by myself gets 50,000 views per 30 days, for example. So, we've simply scratched the outside (of the podcast marketplace in India),” says Goklani.

Most folks in India are simply now not aware of the medium, which makes it tricky to monetise the content. But in five or 10 years, podcasting will transform commonplace, just like running a blog, he believes. This stems from the interest coming in from streaming and distribution partners – Spotify entered India this February, competing with Indian players Gaana and JioSaavn, and there may be growing Internet get right of entry to. “In India, 77 in step with cent of podcasts are fed on on cellphones. It’s a passive activity,” he issues out.