One in three French people listens to podcasts when they were only 22% in 2019. This is the result of the 2021 barometer of the CSA / Havas Paris institutes. The craze for native audio content (original creations intended only for uploading) is growing.
The productions are more and more numerous, as attested by Thibaut de Saint-Maurice, the creator of the Paris podcast festival which starts Thursday October 14 at the Gaité Lyrique: “For four years, the applications have continued to increase. In 2020, we were around 500, this year we received 657. Forty podcasts are in competition and the jury, chaired this year by Oxmo Puccino, will announce Sunday evening the prize list. “
Fictions, documentaries, testimonies, news, all genres are represented. All formats too, from a few minutes to over an hour. But what makes a great podcast? “It’s a podcast that you want to share, to send to your family, to your friends. There is a double trend this year: to want to inform and to entertain.”
The typical podcast listener is a 35-year-old urban man, senior executive, with children, ultra-connected. People who live in rural areas or who have few qualifications remain far from this universe, as do seniors. As for the economic model, it remains to be found, even if the sector is starting to structure itself. “There are a lot of different attempts”, emphasizes Thibaut de Saint-Maurice. “What works quite well is when creators advertise their productions. The paid model has appeared this season, it is emerging and promising for a certain type of content. ready to pay for a podcast, it is undoubtedly because the offer is not yet sufficiently clear. People do not refuse to pay, we see it with SVOD, when the offer is attractive “, continues the Creator of Paris podcast festival.