Big players jostle for your audio space

There’s been a whole lot of uncertainty and confusion around what’s next for podcasting this year – which big platform will win the battle for listeners, will audiences keep growing and what genres of podcasts will we be listening to?

Spotify’s $400 million acquisition last year of Gimlet Media, Parcast, and Anchor was a bold move into the podcasting world and caused ripples through the industry.

This year, we’re set to see Spotify continue its quest for world domination and a likely response from Apple podcasts, which is rumoured to be creating original content for the first time.

Joining the podcast party will be YouTube and Facebook, in a bid to tap into the unique human connection that podcasting boasts with its audience. These large content platforms will create best-in-class audio-specific products and begin to distribute podcasts en masse, searching for likes and shares.

Podcast audiences are predicted to continue to grow, especially in the under-45 demographic. With more than 700,000 podcasts available now and a huge variety of content covered, there will be more listeners who listen more regularly.

As well as podcasting becoming more mainstream as entertainment, many business insiders are predicting that podcasting will become the new ‘‘blog’’ or internal company communication. Your boss’s boss will probably podcast you, rather than company email you (sorry).

Content-wise, get set for more experimental podcasts with different formats and lengths. Microcasts or shorter-form podcasts are set to rise, so think podcasts for running errands, rather than long commutes. There’ll be more audio-fiction podcasts voiced by big stars and there’ll be a return to the ‘‘niche’’ podcasting of old.