When Renay Richardson was working as content manager at podcast platform Acast last year, she was approached by the NHS to run an advertising campaign aimed at recruiting black blood donors. All Richardson had to do was find a podcast directed at the campaign’s target audience.
Browsing through thousands of shows, Richardson had a problem. She could find only eight podcasts aimed specifically at a black British audience. None of them fit the bill. She recalls: “There was money to spend and the shows just didn’t exist.”
Richardson called Ade Bamgbala, a digital marketer, encouraging him to launch the podcast he’d been planning of interviews with young black entrepreneurs. She told him: “Ade, I’ve already got your sponsor. They love the concept!” With backing from the NHS campaign, Bamgbala released his first podcast for Blacticulate in September last year. He has gone on to record 27 episodes.
Bamgbala’s experience shows how easy it can be to launch a podcast. Richardson, who has now moved over to audio entertainment Audible, says: “We’re kind of where we were with blogs when they started. Anyone can start a podcast and you can find an audience.”
And yet, despite the low barriers to entry, there is little to suggest that the UK podcasting industry contains a more diverse range of voices than traditional media. Looking at the iTunes top 50 podcasts chart one day in October, only one in four shows featured a regular female host. Only three UK podcasts featured a regular host from an ethnic minority.
“Podcasting definitely had a reputation for being the home of white men, for sure,” says Susie Warhurst, director of UK content at Acast. Now, she thinks that’s changing – and that change is necessary for podcasting to fulfil its potential. “Commercially it’s the smart move,” she says. “It will only break out if it appeals to more women and a more diverse range of listeners. If podcasting is going to be as successful as it can be, we’ve got to change the game.”
Over in the US, the market has grown more ethnically diverse over time. In 2011, African American listeners made up 16% of the audience in 2015, up from 14% in 2011, according to a study by Edison Research. The number of Asian listeners grew by a third.
Tom Webster, vice president at Edison Research, says this trend has been driven by one factor: “Money”. According to Webster, US podcasters created podcasts with a diverse range of voices following demand from advertisers, who wanted to see that the format could reach a wide range of listeners. “The UK market will catch up in that regard,” he says. “The BBC is such a significant player but as content providers, creators and investors see the success that people are having in advertising and monetising content, that will change.”
The tide is changing, albeit slowly as more content producers look to create podcasts that capture a diverse range of voices. Last year Efe Jerome set up a podcast network targeting underrepresented groups and voices within the media in a bid to tackle the issue. ShoutOut Network, which published its first podcast in December last year, now produces five shows covering current affairs, sports, art and literature from a young black British perspective. It reaches an average of 25,000 listeners per month. ShoutOut network chief executive Imriel Morgan says she wants to continue to boost listenership and expand the roster of shows, “cementing our place to the point where we won’t be ignored or overlooked.”
The expanded network will continue to be a home for black British voices but Morgan also wants to attract hosts from a wider range of backgrounds. She wants more women and young people to get behind the mic and is looking at different formats, such as documentaries, exploring topics such as mental health. The network will be seeking grant funding but is also generating advertising revenue and exploring brand partnerships.
Similarly others are spurred to move into the podcast space after finding that they themselves weren’t being catered for. Gay comedian Suzi Ruffell began listening to podcasts after discovering US series Serial. As she started seeking out other shows, “I slowly realised there wasn’t anything gay,” she says. Taking action into her own hands, Ruffell decided to set up and host Like Minded Friends – “a podcast where two homo comedians talk about life, love and culture” with fellow comedian Tom Allen.
Soon after its launch in October last year, Ruffell and Allen received a Facebook message from a teenage listener. “She said, ‘Nobody knows I’m gay yet and you two are my first gay friends’,” recalls Ruffell. “As soon as we received that we thought, there’s a huge demographic out there who are not being spoken to.” Fifty episodes later, the show has racked up more than 70,000 listens.
Meanwhile, other podcast distributors are now actively seeking shows which can reach a wider range of listeners. Acast says it has tripled the number of female hosts on its top 30 shows in the last year and more than half of its new content is now female-led. AudioBoom has also branched into more diverse podcasts, publishing Like Minded Friends and intersectional feminist podcast series Kicking the Kyriarchy.
Talia Lapidus, head of entertainment at audioBoom, is optimistic that the podcasting industry can become more representative and cater to a wider range of backgrounds. “The thing I’ve found about podcasts is that it enables everyone to have a voice and people are really embracing that now,” she says. “I do think we’re going to see more diversity, more LGBT, more women. There’s stuff out there and it’s only going to be growing more and more.”
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