Music streaming platform announces three new titles

Eight months after the launch of Spotify in India, the music streaming platform has announced the first phase of its investment in local original programming. As a reiteration of Spotify’s global audio-first strategy, the company will drop three new podcasts on December 3. “The podcast industry is crossing about a billion dollars and it was 30% less last year and it is going to cross two billion in the near future,” said Amarjit Singh Batra, managing director (India), Spotify.

The first is 22 Yarns With Gaurav Kapur that delves into world of cricket with untold stories, myths, statistics and plenty of hosts. “[India] is the best in the word and we haven’t been bullish enough about telling all the stories about the cricket ecosystem,” said Mr. Kapur. “We don’t tell our stories with the reverence and respect they should get. These are stories all the way from the 1930s to present,” he said.

Mantra Mugdh will present his fictional drama series Bhaskar Bose — a noir detective show about a chartered accountant who moves from Durgapur (West Bengal) to Mumbai, but finds that his true calling is solving crimes. “It’s an old-school radio drama,” said Mr. Mugdh, adding that the podcast will feature binaural sounds for an enhanced immersive experience. “Radio is the blind man’s television. [With] radio dramas, you are your own Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap. I am one storyteller creating a million stories,” he said.

Lastly, there’s Love Aaj Kal With Aastha & Ankit. Though already available on JioSaavn, the podcast makes its way to Spotify next month. The two-season-old show explores sex, love and relationships with journalists Aastha Atray and Ankit Vengurlekar.

In 2018, Spotify had 10,000 podcast titles which grew to 5,00,000 this year. Global streamed hours have gone up approximately 39% from Q2 to Q3 in 2019. The decision to focus on podcasts as a medium in India comes shortly after the company’s February acquisition of Anchor, an app that allows anyone to record their podcast from anywhere. The tool allows editing, free background music, customisable cover art, distribution and more.

With the expected increase in podcasts and its consumers, Spotify plans to introduce ‘Podmarks’ akin to a bookmark to help discovered content.

There are no concrete plans at the moment to diversify in terms of language with a strong focus on Hinglish for a wider audience.