Podcast Heads Home … I’m Arab, I Recorded

The “podcast” is not an emergency for the Arab media, since its history in this region dates back approximately to 2014, according to estimates of followers who complain about the lack of critical figures in this area. The journey of this form of digital media content is still in its infancy in the Arab world, but its growth is remarkable and attracts a growing audience, in a way that leads content creators to optimism about a future similar to what that is happening today in the West.

The term Podcast is made up of the words Pod, after Apple’s iPod, and Cast, derived from the English word Broadcast, which means “broadcast.” Its use for the first time dates back to an opinion column published by BBC journalist Ben Hammersley in 2004 in the British newspaper The Guardian, under the title “An Audible Revolution.”

In terms of meaning, this term means “phonetic notation”. In short, a podcast is a recorded audio program that is published on the Internet and can be listened to and downloaded at any time.
In the United States, for example, more than 124 million people listen to podcasts. According to a study by Edison Research, more than 42 million Americans listen to it every week, while the amount of money spent on advertising in this context is 256 million dollars annually, which can be increased. As for accessing this content, it is through applications available for both iOS and Android operating systems (Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Sound Cloud, Anghami and Spotify, for example), or through websites.
In the Arab world, the podcast was launched from Egypt via “Radio Idea” and “More Life”, before spreading to Jordan via the “Sawt” platform. In the Emirates there are Kerning Cultures, and in Lebanon there are “Change Wave” and Polytalks and others.
In cooperation with a large number of podcast programs, the “Podcast Arabic” initiative to support Arabic audio content, in December 2019, released the results of a survey that included 661 people. Saudi Arabia was found to rank first in terms of listeners at 56.3%, followed by Jordan (14.1%), the Emirates (6.6%) and Egypt (5%). The ages of the listeners ranged from 18 to 34 years, with roughly equal proportions between women (49.2%) and men (50.8%).
In this context, Maya Hajij, host of the “Rakwa Qahwa” podcast, explained in a statement to “CNN” that the audience remains “elitist”, adding that “whoever chooses the podcast does so intentionally driven by the desire to listen.” … the most important element to attract this audience is good content and presentation method.
For his part, Abdel-Rahman Al-Omran, founder of the “Arab Podcast” initiative and host of the “Tayyar” podcast, said in a chat with the US network itself that the podcast covers “the gap of heavy or deep content that it seeks the Arab listener who wants to get away from speed, entertainment and consumption. ».

Timing is also a huge draw, as shows can be listened to anytime, anywhere, as well as the creative side of the content in terms of sound effects, presentation method, and lack of commitment to a specific schedule, such as is the case of the radio. The high demand for podcasts in the Arab world has created promising investment opportunities, although without them there are obstacles that represent advertising and income generation. The clearest proof of this is the new experiences that are constantly emerging, the most recent of which is Podeo, the leading platform in the Middle East specialized in Arabic content.
“The project was born out of the lack of a platform in the Arab world that provides purely Arabic content,” Podeo founder and CEO Stefano Falah told Al-Akhbar.
Despite the increase in the percentage of “podcasts” in our region, experiences remain “relatively weak due to the absence of advanced media in terms of production, branding and sound distribution.” Most of the experiences that have been born in recent years have started as it usually happens on YouTube, without a clear vision and strategy. And these people in particular received help through Podeo to restructure the content and relaunch it through our platform ”.
According to Falah, the beginning of Podeo was when “we noticed a lack in the Arab market for digital audio content in the Dhad language. Our goal is to encourage people to listen to the podcast and to motivate creators to create content in Arabic. Thus, we began to attract the Arab public to see the content at the time, place and type they want. Unlike radio, this experience allows the listener to make their choices according to their own preferences and demands.

In his opinion, innovation in audio content continues to be a key factor that podcasts lack in the Arab world, given the failure of traditional stations to renew their way of working and most of them satisfied with offering their programs ” offline ”:“ Over time, we noticed the enthusiasm of many to launch podcast shows. “Of their own, and among them there are familiar names in the air.
Podeo helps all content creators in the Arab world to start their experiences on its platform for free, while also providing ways for the audience to listen to it. This is what farmer Stefano says, while highlighting his conviction that “change is definitely coming, but we must introduce the concept of ‘podcast’ to the widest possible audience segment. We are trying to lead this trend in cooperation with a wide range of Arabic content creators. ”

Ben Hammersley was the first to use the term in an article he published in 2004 in “The Guardian.”

In this context, a young Lebanese who studied computer and communications engineering at the “American University of Beirut” explains that the main characteristic of Podeo is “the availability of specialized technological equipment, website, application and information, which allows us to ( together with influencers and celebrities from the Arab world) bring insights and ideas to content creators. And the analytics needed to improve and refine the content. So getting content that is primarily data-driven and targeted at specific (targeted) audiences .
At the end of the phone conversation with him, Stefano Falah points out that there are many projects currently on fire: “We recently revealed new shows, two series and a comedy podcast, with the intention of officially launching the platform soon in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. … The next stage will see a strong entry into new markets due to partnerships. What we have with outstanding parties I cannot name now ».

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