Audio infotainment has for long been a medium close to the heart, with people soaking in on cricket commentaries or prime-time bulletins emerging from their radio sets. But a lot of that changed some thirty years ago, and the once-ubiquitous transistors, as radio sets were popularly called, yielded space to a barrage of television soap operas and, more recently, the YouTube phenomenon. But it is now making a comeback in the new avatar called podcasts. Podcasts are on-demand radio shows streamed over the internet and there is now a plethora of free content–from interview shows to fiction story-telling–out there on the web. Though a global phenomenon, the podcasting boom in India is not only unique but also stupendous in how quickly both listeners and producers have embraced the new medium. A rapid surge in original podcast shows has left the audience spoilt for choices. News publishers have launched podcast divisions, while business firms are using it as a brand-promotion channel. Podcasts have become a social media extension of sorts for celebrity figures like the Obamas, scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and others who regularly churn out new episodes to keep their audience hooked. However, underneath the glut, a special class of upstart podcast-creators is emerging. Armed with free tools on the internet and an off-the-shelf microphone, these self-starters are not only bringing fresh original content to the fore but are also creating a brand name for themselves. The democratic nature of podcasts–easy to produce and feature on endless aggregator platforms–is also a key enabler. Self-starters Ashdin Doctor, the creator of Habit Coach podcast, is a Mumbai-based fitness and lifestyle consultant. His journey from being unfit through his 20s, to changing his lifestyle upside down through obsessive reading on nutrition and health, prompted him to take it up as a career. Doctor wanted to deliver his learning to a larger audience on the internet and started a podcast a year ago. “Initially it would take me four to five hours to record a few minutes,” says Doctor, who publishes five-minute episodes each, on one actionable habit, nutritional advice or lifestyle recommendation. One year and 166 episodes later, he says podcasting has helped him get hundreds of queries and engagements on his social media pages. “Now I publish three podcasts a week. I write my own scripts, and record the episodes as per a schedule,” he says adding that he gets 150,000 listens every month. Through he initially tried his hand on Anchor, a free internet tool to create podcasts, Doctor’s first show was recorded in partnership with IVM. IVM, or Indus Vox Media, is a podcasting network founded by Amit Doshi and Kavita Rajwade in 2015. In many ways, IVM is a unique company and a major force behind popularising Indian original shows. The company functions as a network, production house and distribution platform solely focused on Indian creators, and now boasts on 95 original titles on its platform. A skim through its Android app best captures the pulse of local shows: Varun Duggirala, founder of ad agency The Glitch, interviews top marketing voices on the changing nature of advertising on his show ‘Advertising is Dead’; Finance consultants Anupam Gupta shares personal financial tips on ‘Paisa Vaisa’; while ‘Kini aur Nani’, hosted by children book-writer Nutran Raj, is trying re-create the experience of grandma’s bed-time stories on radio. Personalities like investor-entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and comedian Cyrus Broacha also have popular podcasts running on IVM. “The last six months have been the most exciting times I can think of,” IVM’s Doshi wrote in a blogpost in March, when the outfit completed four years. “Everything from the growth in content catalog, to the huge growth in traffic and name recognition, the avalanche of job applicants, the constantly increasing interest from brands and VCs, and, mo
