Boom of Podcasts: How to Expand Beyond English-Speaking Markets

With 23% of adults in the United States listening to a weekly podcast and the medium jumping in popularity by 11% in the United Kingdom, transcription service providers are ready to help podcasters expand into new markets

Edinburgh, Scotland - April 6, 2019 /MarketersMedia/ —

A podcast is a digital audio file, which is available on the Internet for listening to online, or downloading to a computer or mobile device. They are generally available as a series covering a wide range of topics from comedy to education, and are often downloaded automatically by subscribers.

In recent years, podcasts have undergone somewhat of a boom with media experts stating that podcast producers and their listeners are currently entering a “golden age.” Studies in the United Kingdom have found that the number of weekly podcast subscribers jumped 11% from 3.2 million in 2013 to 5.9 million in 2018. Meanwhile, the number of podcast listeners in the United States jumped from 15% of adults in 2017, to 23% of adults in January 2019.

However, despite their surge in popularity, marketing experts have found that podcasters can reach even wider audiences by adding subtitled content.

Popular U.S. podcast This American Life subtitled its entire back catalogue and latest episodes, and when evaluating the decision, it found that its number of new listeners via organic search had increased by 6.7%, and 7.2% of listeners took the time to read their transcript - this is due to better Search Engine Optimisation results, meaning that the podcast became easier for potential listeners to discover online.

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, can increase quantity and quality of web traffic to a website through keywords and organic search engine results. That said, subtitles are anticipated to be amongst the most popular ways of boosting SEO traffic in 2019. Subtitles are expected be one of the most popular SEO trends this year, and professionally-transcribed, accurate transcriptions optimised with necessary keywords were found to boost SEO rankings.

Furthermore, subtitles can also boost the number of a podcast’s listeners by way of increased accessibility. In the U.S., one of the largest consumers of podcasts globally, it is estimated that nearly one million of its population are deaf or hard of hearing. This means that by adding a transcript of their show, podcasters could potentially access an entire new market.

Also, whilst it is English-language podcasts experiencing this surge in popularity, providing transcriptions in other languages is also advised.

Therefore using a transcription provider able to translate into several languages would help the show reach non-native English speaking audiences.

GoTranscript, a human-driven transcription service has previously worked with a number of clients who host podcasts, including the BBC and the New York Times. They urge podcasters to subtitle their content in order to reach new listeners.

“It’s highly encouraging to see subtitled content being adopted by podcasts,” said GoTranscript CEO, Peter Trebek. “We have seen the evidence that adding subtitles can bring to podcasters, and we would urge them to do so in order for their product to reach new markets and to not exclude listeners. Furthermore, GoTranscript is available to assist them with this process, and we would happily provide them with a free trial of our product before their commit to any final decision.”

With podcasts growing in popularity and subtitles proving to be an integral part of their expansion strategy, industry experts will keep a close eye on how this trend will develop, and how they will use new methods to engage new listeners.

Contact Info:
Name: George East
Organization: GoTranscript
Website: http://www.gotranscript.com

Source URL: https://marketersmedia.com/boom-of-podcasts-how-to-expand-beyond-english-speaking-markets/499417

Source: MarketersMedia

Release ID: 499417