Why Audio Entertainment is Here to Stay - For Now
By Dan Wiseman
On the latest edition of The Social Jar Podcast, Dan Wiseman and Andreas Georgiou discussed the ‘Rise and Fall of Podcasting’. It was a discussion prompted, in part, by the incredible growth of live audio rooms and whether they could seriously challenge the podcast industry in the years to come.
The guys expressed concerns for the future of podcasting, based on the explosive success of platforms like Twitter Spaces and the early days of Clubhouse, offering listeners a sense of interaction and value that traditional podcasts simply can’t offer. And now that the likes of Facebook, Spotify, Amazon and LinkedIn are all in the game (or just about to join) it looks like the prominence of live audio is only going to increase.
And then there’s the Metaverse. Dread it, run from it, Meta’s vision for internet 3.0 looks set to arrive all the same. Whilst we don’t know exactly when it will become a (virtual) reality, Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Meta Platforms, continues to double-down on his vision for an immersive online world, despite growing concerns. And in an all-singing, all-dancing VR world roamed by avatars and fuelled by cryptocurrency, what room is there going to be for audio-only entertainment? It’ll feel positively archaic by then, predicts Andreas.
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And he’s probably right. Even certain current trends point to users wanting a little more from their audio shows. We produce two podcasts in-house here at Uni4m, with both attracting a greater viewer count on their visual YouTube equivalents than they do on strictly audio-based platforms. It’s not an industry that we can expect to stand still.
But in the here and now, in 2022, we have to put some respect on podcasting’s name. It is a behemoth global market, worth almost $11.5BN. By 2028 - despite all of the aforementioned competitors and challenges - the value of the industry is expected to keep on growing exponentially, skyrocketing to $94.88BN. It’s simple: people love podcasts. An estimated 424.2 million listeners are expected to tune in globally in 2022, a figure which accounts for an incredible 20.3% of all internet users.
There’s something quite reassuring in our inextinguishable attraction to audio-only entertainment. In a world full of multi-sensory formats, streaming services, immersive gaming and all the user-generated content you could ever wish for, the fact that podcasts and the likes of radio are still going strong is remarkable, in truth.
For podcasts especially, there is a level of convenience and comfort in knowing that on a particular day, at a particular time, you’re going to get an episode from your favourite show (which is The Social Jar, obviously) and you can listen to it however and wherever you want to. The only issue with the interactivity that comes with live audio rooms, unless you’re in the comfort of your own home, you’re either going to have to simply listen along, or miss out altogether. It’s hard to offer your opinion in a Twitter Space when you’re on the Tube, or at work, for example. Trust us - we’ve tried.
And as for the Metaverse, it’s almost impossible to predict what podcasts could look like in that era. We are slowly beginning to be drip-fed information and insight as to what exactly the future of social media will contain, but for the most part, it’s speculation and rumor. As we said earlier, it’s a long way down the line.
When in the world of social media, it’s very easy to get caught up in looking into the distance. It’s such a rapidly-evolving world, with new updates, platforms and features popping up every single day, that evaluating what’s coming next feels only natural.
Perhaps it is an anomaly that the likes of podcasts are so deeply integrated into online life. But they have been around for decades - radio for more than a century - and have survived the rise of film, television, on-demand programming and streaming services, the internet, as well as all of the other technological advances that have revolutionised the world of entertainment. It’s fair to say they’re more than used to competition.
For now, it seems the world of audio is safe and sound.
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About The Social Jar
The Social Jar Podcast is brought to you by Uni4m Media, Dan Wiseman and Andreas Georgiou discuss the latest social media marketing news and updates.
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