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Listen to or watch the original content Xavier Seux is the co-founder of Echoes, a company specialising in podcast production. The podcast market has…
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Xavier Seux is the co-founder of Echoes, a company specialising in podcast production. The podcast market experienced slower growth during the COVID crisis, with strong rebounds after the two lockdowns, since podcasts are mostly listened to during transitional moments, while travelling. However, Xavier Seux observes that podcast listening is increasingly taking place in a fixed location.
A distinction is made between replay podcasts, rebroadcasts of programmes, and native podcasts, created for direct distribution on the Internet. Podcast listeners mostly come from higher socioeconomic groups and have a more urban lifestyle. There is also household demand for podcasts aimed at children, on education and training.
The podcast market features many business models, given the lack of direct revenue from podcasts. After B2B productions, monetisation mainly comes through advertising. However, new types of business models are emerging, some based in particular on cost per listen.
The extensive offering from B2B production companies makes entry into this market easier, and the market also has a low level of concentration. According to Xavier, low production costs encourage entry, but perseverance and consistency are necessary to enter the market successfully. Echoes, for example, has two podcasts, one on real estate and investment, the other on the ecological transition. The format in this market leads to the creation of real digital communities around podcasts and is slowly taking the shape of a kind of social network, in which communication strategies play an important role.
Innovation is difficult because the technology is already extremely developed, but hosting providers nevertheless offer new technologies focused on advertising revenue and audience measurement, and enable the decarbonisation of the market.