Earlier this year, popular entertainment publisher, Vulture, spoke about the progress of podcasting in 2022. The report – titled “The Mid-2022 Podcast Industry Progress Report” – highlighted that there is a lot of podcast content out there; however, not enough listeners.
The reality is that podcasts are carrying Spotify on their backs and knees, and podcast companies are collaborating with interesting celebrities like the Obamas in a bid to get a higher return on investment.
What really stood out from the above-mentioned article was this particular quote, “The observation made by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw back in January, that podcasting hasn’t produced a new hit in years, continues to loom large.”
As you know by now, our focus at The Podcast Sessions is always on the African continent. That said, off the top of your head, could you list at least five podcasts that one would consider major hits? You know, the kind that everyone is constantly talking about, those that trend on social media.
Let’s zero in on some of the top African podcasts in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Today according to Chartable, in Nigeria, the top local podcasts include “I Said What I Said” charting at number one and “Ezii Like Sunday Morning” coming in at number two.
Looking at South Africa we have “Podcast and Chill with MacG” comfortably sitting at number two. Further down the list is “True Crime South Africa” at number 10.
Finally in Kenya, the award-winning “ManTalk” at number six.
What is interesting about these charts is that international podcasts are still dominating and ranking higher across the continent. No one can deny the global effects that American media has on all forms of media across the world.
Their media is also more accessible than our local media and they also have the resources to make sure you come across their content.
In addition, this information is in line with the ‘The Discovery Tour: Data Edition’ report that was released in April 2022. The report’s findings stated that in one of the categories, 80% of South Africans surveyed listened to international podcasts versus less than 20% who listened to local podcasts. In Kenya, the split was 70% international podcasts and 30% local own.
A representative that worked on the report stated that “there is a huge gap in awareness of African podcasts among audiences in Kenya and South Africa. In Nigeria, audiences listen more to local podcasts than international, suggesting that podcast awareness is higher.”
There are several possible contributing factors for the high international podcast consumption in comparison to local including westernisation and other countries jumping onto the podcast bandwagon before us.
However, our view is it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past the real question is what can we do as individuals, communities, producers, creators, companies and listeners to change our knowledge and consumption of local podcasts?
There are thousands of undiscovered podcasts and we’re excited to have created a platform to spotlight African podcasters.
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About the Podcast Sessions:
The Podcast Sessions is the continent’s first pan-African podcast magazine and dedicated African podcast news website.
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