Podcast on demand for all listeners

Madrid, Mar 20 (EFE) .- The radio has multiplied its offer in podcast formats, a medium that is 'hooking' listeners more committed to some sections of its flagship programs and that is attracting new consumers of low-end content. demand of a cultural, informative, social and entertainment nature.

The year of the pandemic has been the year of the screens, but radio has also reclaimed its place and has opened the doors more than ever to a new public interested in a more selective and personalized listening of content, which it cannot do. in front of the generalist radio, which also needs to be heard immediately.

The programs have been 'wrapped' in podcast episodes to be listened to at any time through the mobile phone or on the computer, but also in this last year the express production of content has grown to form part of these radio narratives on demand.

Podcast consumption has exploded on the main market platforms such as Spotify, iVoox, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Smart speakers and YouTube, in which thousands of regular listeners search for the favorite sections of 'their programs' and in which so many new ones look for what has been made to measure thinking of them.

This week, the SER network premiered "Ser Pódcast", its new offer with 65 podcasts comprised of eleven topics: current affairs, humor, sports, economy and business, history, film and television, culture and society, science and technology, music, leisure , and health and wellness.

They are already available in its app (serpodcast.com), on its website and on podcast platforms, with the aim of "reaching new audiences, offering content for those who already listen to us but also for those who do not", according to the coordinator of the project, Ana Alonso: "The intention is to rejuvenate the audience and occupy new commercial spaces".

Also this week RNE has consolidated its commitment to the new formats in 'RNE Solo en Podcast', with 32 spaces that complement and enrich its offer with literary, theatrical, gastronomic, musical, architectural, fashion, informative or cinematographic content.

And, according to Ignacio Elguero, director of the public broadcaster, "the possibilities of support are endless" and it is diversified into websites, applications and platforms, such as Spotify, which already has more than 2.2 million titles of podcasts available worldwide.

With it, RNE signed its first agreement last February whereby more than 350 programs can be listened to on the streaming platform.

COPE also has more than 15 podcasts, which can be heard on cope.es, and on very different themes, such as sports, music or lifestyle, and one of the stars is "Radio Carlitos Deluxe", which Carlos directs and presents. Herrera, who shares his select musical list with the audience.

The idea, according to the station, is to expand the options so that the listener can find the content they require on any subject, and in the coming months it will work with a new platform that will host the entire range of podcasts.

The new form of consumption by listeners, especially among the youngest, is increasing the dissemination of content also on Efe Radio. The EFE Agency has been producing news and radio podcasts since 2012.

The first is distributed as an audio format in content that the agency sends to its subscribers also in text, video or photo, and the second is the productions that EFE previously distributes to stations subscribing to the programming service.

It currently distributes, through Ivoox and Spotify, podcasts developed by the agency such as 'Atómos y Bits' on science and technology, 'Mangas Verdes' with environmental content, both produced by EFEVerde, and 'El Bisturí' produced by EFESalud.

There are also two others accessible through these platforms: 'Fila EFE', focused on cinema and series in Spanish, and 'Pymetech', in the world of business entrepreneurship.

Without a fixed periodicity, it distributes some informative productions such as 'Stories Transfronterizas de cohesion', by EuroEFE.

EFE is studying within its future strategy the convenience of putting into operation a podcast website that gives access to a selection of those produced today and others that may be incorporated in the future, according to Roberto Castañares, director of Efe Radio.

But, how will the radio and podcast pairing work in the future? Castañares believes that they will be compatible, although most likely radio, as we traditionally know it, will continue to have its main attraction in live broadcasts and in the live broadcast of events of general interest, where - he maintains - "it is unbeatable."

Meanwhile, the podcast will allow the production of a multitude of increasingly specialized content for highly segmented audiences that can listen to whatever is of interest to them at any time and place through the electronic device that each one prefers.