India is witnessing an unprecedented boom in podcasts. Here’s how the demand for audio content in regional languages is fuelling their growth. By Team Viva

When it comes to the audio industry, podcast has become the new buzzword and a favourite. Being able to penetrate multiple geographies at the same time, podcasts have started gaining huge popularity. A combination of the terms, “iPod” and “broadcast,” podcast is a significantly growing segment in the country’s online entertainment sector and holds great potential for reaching new heights in the future.

Going as per the trends and official data, India has an internet user base of 500 million, out of which 40 million tune in to listen to a podcast. The market is led by the Apple Podcasts, which has around 5.5 lakh active podcasts in 100+ languages available for the users. However, the emergence of home-grown podcasting companies in recent years has been a growth catalyst for the industry.

According to PwC, the total revenue generated from podcasting is estimated to reach $1 billion by 2021. Another report by Google reveals that India is among the top five countries using Google Podcasts app with an increased affinity towards on-demand content.

Well, now, the growth of podcasts are being further fuelled by regional languages in India and Pulkit Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Khabri, tells us how.

India is a country with 22 modern Indian languages and around 720 recognised dialects. The linguistic diversity in India is increasing the demand for the information available on various platforms in vernacular languages. With a growth rate of 33 per cent, the vernacular internet ecosystem in the country is thriving.

Not surprisingly, a study conducted by KPMG found that 73 per cent of internet users prefer content in vernacular language in India, and any company which targets this group is likely to enjoy an upward growth trajectory.

As per DataLabs by Inc24, the estimated market opportunity for vernacular content in India is 53 per cent billion for the year, 2021. Google and KPMG’s joint study, titled Indian Languages Defining India’s Internet, also predicts that by the year 2021, Hindi internet users will surpass the number of English internet users. 90 per cent of these new internet users will prefer consuming content online in their preferred vernacular language, which is enough to indicate the demand for local language content.

Podcasts in India have successfully tapped into the growing demand for online content in vernacular languages. Out of the total number of new internet users, nearly 75 per cent of the users belong to tier-II and tier-III towns, out of which around 80 per cent of them want to consume information in their native or local language. Thus, initially beginning in the English language, podcasts in India have now garnered a regional appeal by providing content in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, and Assamese to name a few. The other advantage of releasing the content in regional language is that the podcast hosts can reach the rural areas of the country, where the majority of the population is not comfortable with speaking or listening to English audios.

When it comes to topics or issues of discussion, there are different types of podcasts available to cater to people of all age groups and moods. They can offer content varying from news, to mythological series, fun stories, and poems, and even educational content in the local language based on the geography they are trying to target. This is an indicator that podcasts have limitless growth possibilities when released in the language preferred by the consumer of the content.

Most of the leading content-generating platforms like YouTube have already started focussing on the Hindi language to increase the engagement rate of their content. Facebook and Google, too, have started focussing on native languages for enabling mass distribution of the regional content among the locals.

The demand for audio content in regional languages is rising among internet users in India. Hence, it is essential for podcast platforms to increase the variety of content they provide in vernacular languages. These podcasts in local languages can be used to create social awareness, do storytelling by rural people, and bring new talent onboard. The increased demand for local languages and on-demand content gives podcast platforms the opportunity to provide a user experience, thereby leading to an unprecedented podcast boom in India.