Mumbai: In the world of audio entertainment, there's a new category that is rapidly gaining popularity - audio series. Audio Series is a long-form or serialized fiction audio storytelling similar to TV series. And one company at the forefront of this trend is Pocket FM. As a platform dedicated to long-form, serialized fiction storytelling, Pocket FM has been able to capture the attention of audiences in India and beyond with its unique proposition. This has been our core focus and unique proposition, with this category dominating consumption on the platform registering over 90 per cent of the listener time spent. Ashu Behl, the SVP of Content & Strategy at Pocket FM, has delved into the growth of the audio series category, the impact of COVID-19 on the sector, investments in local Indian podcasts, and the challenges facing the podcasting industry in India.

1.  As far as your podcasting business stands, what is the kind of growth it has witnessed in listenership in India, if at all? How does that compare with music streaming?

While we have seen promising growth for knowledge and conversational content in the audio space led by podcasts and audiobooks, the audio series category witnessed an exponential trajectory last year. As we shared in our Rewind2022 report, we have witnessed that our daily listener time spent has surpassed the other forms of audio and video entertainment in the digital space. Industry data reveals 45 minutes of average daily users' time spent on short video platforms, while audio OTTs and video OTTs clock 65 minutes and 70 minutes, respectively. On the contrary, the average daily listener time spent on Pocket FM is over 110 minutes.

Audio Series emerged as the new X-factor in the entertainment space. The long-form content has not only brought binge-listening behavior into audio space, but also provided entertainment boosters for listeners during commutes, household chores, work hours, and even leisure hours. This reiterates the strength of the audio series in keeping the audience engaged and entertained 24x7, irrespective of their activities, with fresh, exclusive, non-stop and fresh content. The appropriate mix of these four factors is the prima mobile (prime mover) of audio series, absent in other entertainment formats.

2.  The genre is estimated to have seen much uptick during covid. Has that sustained/risen? Why/why not?

Audio series is a new entertainment category and has immense potential globally. While we validated the huge demand for this category in India, we believe audio series will be a global entertainment categorAudio Series have always been on the surge, irrespective of the decline in the other formats. Pocket FM has witnessed over 45 billion minutes of streaming in 2022, a 2X growth from 2021.

Last year we expanded globally, with the US launch, and replicated our growth and content playbook of audio series for global audiences. There also, we have also seen strong adoption of audio series and growth in listening time.

3.  What are the investments you're making in local Indian podcasts? (what does the slate look like, how many titles are you planning annually, and what are the content spends like)? Have these investments seen growth year-on-year? Why/why not?

Pocket FM is powered by its 500,000+ creator community, consisting of writers, voice actors, and sound engineers. We will continue to nurture and invest in our creator community and enable them to showcase their talents and posit the possibilities of being transformed into (audio) celebrities. In 2022, we invested over US$10 million in various creator programs and incentives. Last year, the content library expanded with 1500+ titles, and our most series goes over 500-800 episodes. In 2023, we will continue to increase the spending to expand our creator community across the globe and encourage them to create high-quality series for the global audience.

4.  India isn't a market where podcasts are seen as a form of mainstream entertainment—what are the challenges for the sector in this specific market? Why have podcasts not seen their breakout moment in India yet?

You are probably right! We experimented with podcasts during the early phase of our product journey, and we learned that podcasts are great for conversations, but lack the entertainment quotient. Core challenges for the traditional podcast space were a lack of engaging and exclusive content, appealing only to niche user groups and only dependence on an ad/sponsorship-led monetization model. This inspired us to innovate with entertainment elements in the audio space, resulting in the discovery of a more engaging and profitable content ecosystem in the form of audio series.

This unique and exclusive content with strong appeal for the masses, coupled with micropayment, has accelerated our content monetization, taking our ARR (annualized revenue rate) to US$25 million, an increase of 12X in 10 months, reported until October 2022. With the audio series, we can say that the audio entertainment landscape is actually witnessing its breakout moment and creating immense possibilities for mainstream entertainment.

The author of this article is Pocket FM SVP - content & strategy Ashu Behl.