The podcasting industry is worth over $11 billion. It will be far more valuable than that in a few years. Yet, it has not caught on in Africa. Why? And if it is to catch on here, just how will it?
I’ve always said that whatsapp is actually the only social media that matters in (West) Africa. Part of the issue is we can’t measure reach on whatsapp but I love the idea of sending snippets.
One word. YES! Your insight into people listening to long podcast-length voice notes on Whatsapp is so apt. Maybe podcasting in Africa will scale organically. And what organic means is our own way as Africans of distributing long-form on-demand audio. Great read David!
As you said data costs and infrastructural problems don’t explain the story of widespread listens of audio messages over WhatsApp.
The West got into podcasts through music through the iPod. Given there was a leapfrog in Africa into smartphones, that introduction to podcasts was missed. Coupled with the fact that smartphones split podcasts and music unlike the iPod.
This means the current podcast boom in the West will not just slide into Africa. So if people will be introduced into podcasts, it will either be because current podcast formats like sermons are hosted exclusively on podcast platforms or if podcasts exist where people get music.
Social media may pull in but it does not have audio context (anyone on Clubhouse 👋) and long-form podcasts may not succeed through WhatsApp.
The issue then is streaming music is not widespread yet as people here still rip music CDs and download off the internet. So we’ll see the rise of podcasts when streaming music rises, but only if that streaming music platform includes podcasts like Spotify does and thus we see the original marriage restored: music introducing podcasts.
And by the way, so it’s not my mum that send me stuffs 😀
Great POV. I strongly agree about podcasts adapting their content to social media format. Scaling podcast is a very far reach for us as there are more underlying issues to iron out but I guess if huge money is injected, it might get the attention it rightly bought but it won't grow imo.
Thanks for the feedback, maybe you’re right that it won’t grow, maybe not. But I think you’re looking at it the wrong way, mostly because you’re narrowing your definition of what a podcast is. Like I said in the article, if you adapt the definition to this market, then you’ll see that people have been listening to podcasts for a long time and many of them don’t even know that’s what they’re doing. The sermons people download from websites, those are podcasts. The lengthy voice notes our parents share, those are podcasts. They just aren’t sitting on the Apple/Google podcast platform. And they don’t have to, which is partly the point of the article. If we expand our understanding of what people already do, there’s a lot to learn from that.
I’ve always said that whatsapp is actually the only social media that matters in (West) Africa. Part of the issue is we can’t measure reach on whatsapp but I love the idea of sending snippets.
One word. YES! Your insight into people listening to long podcast-length voice notes on Whatsapp is so apt. Maybe podcasting in Africa will scale organically. And what organic means is our own way as Africans of distributing long-form on-demand audio. Great read David!
Hello David,
Good stuff here.
As you said data costs and infrastructural problems don’t explain the story of widespread listens of audio messages over WhatsApp.
The West got into podcasts through music through the iPod. Given there was a leapfrog in Africa into smartphones, that introduction to podcasts was missed. Coupled with the fact that smartphones split podcasts and music unlike the iPod.
This means the current podcast boom in the West will not just slide into Africa. So if people will be introduced into podcasts, it will either be because current podcast formats like sermons are hosted exclusively on podcast platforms or if podcasts exist where people get music.
Social media may pull in but it does not have audio context (anyone on Clubhouse 👋) and long-form podcasts may not succeed through WhatsApp.
The issue then is streaming music is not widespread yet as people here still rip music CDs and download off the internet. So we’ll see the rise of podcasts when streaming music rises, but only if that streaming music platform includes podcasts like Spotify does and thus we see the original marriage restored: music introducing podcasts.
And by the way, so it’s not my mum that send me stuffs 😀
Thanks David.
Great POV. I strongly agree about podcasts adapting their content to social media format. Scaling podcast is a very far reach for us as there are more underlying issues to iron out but I guess if huge money is injected, it might get the attention it rightly bought but it won't grow imo.
Thanks for the feedback, maybe you’re right that it won’t grow, maybe not. But I think you’re looking at it the wrong way, mostly because you’re narrowing your definition of what a podcast is. Like I said in the article, if you adapt the definition to this market, then you’ll see that people have been listening to podcasts for a long time and many of them don’t even know that’s what they’re doing. The sermons people download from websites, those are podcasts. The lengthy voice notes our parents share, those are podcasts. They just aren’t sitting on the Apple/Google podcast platform. And they don’t have to, which is partly the point of the article. If we expand our understanding of what people already do, there’s a lot to learn from that.
Yeah, I published this before they revived the project.