South African podcasting culture is giving everyone a voice

From YouTube content creation that has created stars locally and globally, a new revenue and content outlet for many is the recent explosion of vodcasts and podcast in South Africa.

Podcasting in the American and European media space are fully operating businesses, there are media houses and dedicated channels that solely have for podcasts. Streaming music services jumped on the bandwagon with many on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud and Google Podcasts. The usually prerecording of conversations, topics and sometimes debates about any topic you may think of to connect with people.

International podcasts such as Joe Budden, TED Radio Hour, Michelle Obama and many other celebrities having their own podcasts doesn’t mean getting into the market is tricky. The podcasting space has shown that it is willing to give everyone a voice, you do not need to be a media personality to start one.

South African podcasts are slowly realising the heights that it could reach similar to the growth of YouTube channels and Instagram content creation. And there is room for growth, a survey by Edison Research into audio listening in September last year showed that just 10% of metropolitan South Africans are listening to any podcasts every month, compared to 33% of people in the US, or 22% of Australians

If you know these words “Welcome to Africa’s eighth-best podcast”, then you know pioneer, an early adopter of podcasting in the country, comedian Simmi Areff. His podcast Lesser Known Somebodies started over four years ago long before the wave and arguable the top podcast in the country.

Simmi says he started the podcast because he wanted to be on radio. “I couldn’t get on air, I was on 94.7, I thought let me work on comedy and do this podcast on the side, building a CV of how good I sound,” he joked. Adding that he hoped the podcast would peak the interests of radio producers or managers.

In the beginning, the podcast guests were of his friends who happened to be comedians, musicians and Lesser known somebodies quickly snowballed into well-known somebodies and the stories we wouldn’t know.

“I am a very good storyteller and being a good storyteller you also need to listen to people’s stories because you get to find out these stories from people you may know or may not know. Those stories can mirror you, because you may have gone through the same thing, have the same problems but all these people (guests) are providing some sort of solution.” Guests have included the likes of Anele Mdoda, Tyson Ngubeni and Conrad Koch.

The show has generated a great following, making it the top podcast over the years. Areff’s podcast was a time when there was barely interest but that has changed.

“I do think podcasting in South Africa is growing. I mean we have a network now, which I co-founded called POC podcasts, people of colour, people of content, it depends on what you want to define POC. It has grown, I wouldn’t have been able to do that five years ago.”

POC Podcasts is a South African podcast company that creates audio content of an exclusive series of podcasts by influential figures such as award-winning influencer, businesswoman and mother Aisha Baker.

“I am lucky enough that the vast amount of podcasts we have done is now monetised, that has largely been through the network I built throughout my life. Monetisation in podcasting is not easy in a South African sense, podcasts in generally worldwide it tough to monetisation unless it was from a radio station.

“From an independent podcast producer, I don’t know if monetisation of a podcast is feasible in the next 18 months unless you know people. There are different ways to monetise it such as selling ad space, you could get it sponsored by a company and then there are podcasts made for a company such as one for a law firm.”

The stand-up comedy is still freelancing and says he doesn’t live off making podcasts joking if anyone does should call him.

The journalism graduate also reflected on the market saying niche audiences don’t live in the world of the internet but that a podcast needs to be entertaining and interesting for people to listen to.

Mac G has a similar start-up as Areff, the two worked on the same radio. Mac G had been on the air for 94.7 for years, he says his departure was a polite way of firing him as his contract was not renewed.

In 2018 ‘Podcast and Chill with MacG’ was born. “Because of the space I am in if you are quiet for too long, it’s out of sight out of mind thing. So just to keep my name out there and the plan was to do the podcast and keep myself busy until radio lines ups were changed in April. I thought through the podcast maybe some radio manager would think of giving me a job.”

However, the DJ did not predict how quickly the podcast would be so successful, to this day he has not returned to radio.

“I had worked at YFM for six years and 94.7 for six years but in that one year, I started my podcast the impact that it had was more than all those years I had on the radio put together. That is when I actually realise this is very powerful.”

With a YouTube following of over 70 000 subscribers, the podcasts has been synonymous with big names and interviews that land on the trending list on Twitter for days.  Despite viewership and listenership gaining traction in 2019, the only revenue they were receiving was from YouTube but that all changed this year.

“As soon as the numbers started increasing, that’s when sponsors started jumping on board. Because at the end of the day it is a numbers game wherever there are numbers the sponsors will be there.” Mac G says the time he started it people thought he was crazy, especially as people thought no one would listen because data is so expensive in SA.

“Data is getting cheaper and it will get cheaper. But as it is getting cheaper, data is becoming accessible to more people. Our podcast is not a copy and we don’t  follow other people, it is to set the tone and trend for future podcasts.”

Mac G says he is creating a space, a template in a sense that would help up and coming podcasters in the future, as they learn as they go to make it easier for them.

One of the top growing podcasts for young, black women is ‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Mgowo’ which was launched in 2018 by strategist, Sinesipho Ngcayisa and voice actor, Mixo Mathebula. The duo have a history in YouTube content creation with We the Net channel. Mixo says at that point in their lives they wanted something fitted for young black women and approached Sinesipho because they had worked together before.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Mgowo podcast hosted by Mixo Mathebula and Sinesipho Ngcayisa. Picture: Culture Capital

“It was a time we just stopped making We The Net, I felt overexposed with that channel, I felt people were over-familiar scared of content creation but when Mixo came up with the idea of a podcast. I thought it would make me less vulnerable but in fact, it did the complete opposite. I was keen to do something different,” Sinesipho said.

Mixo adds that their podcast is usually free-flowing, what they have witnessed in the world and how it has affected them personally. It is not set as a YouTube channel for the sake of creating content.

A lot of people aired their stories and views on social media in the early stages of the Covid-19 lockdown. Both felt that during the lockdown period they weren’t their best selves, explaining that Zoom quality affected their episodes and revealing they were in a depressive episode due to the pandemic.

“The only time I have felt self-conscious about our work is during the lockdown period, where we couldn’t get together to film. We were using Zoom and the quality wasn’t the best and I thought people wouldn’t want to listen to this but thankfully they did.”

Because the podcast is much about their lives, very much also centred on adulthood and what a “lie” it is. The pair says it wasn’t so easy to open up in front of the mic but the conversations have given them a chance to process and work on intention in changing things in their lives. Saying opening up got easier the more episodes they did.

The podcast also has open discussions of the corporate world and how it is to be a young black working person. The platform was created to express the difficulty of adulting and how those who have gone through it can help others in their similar experiences.

“We becoming enlightened that we exist in a capitalist system. I really think adulting is shit because it’s a white, male-dominated world which is shit. In the podcast we found relief, we just talking about life in general.

“We are keen to chronicle their journeys through adulthood on a platform that would allow thousands of others to share these reflections,” Sinesipho says.

They do still think the podcast world is still very small locally and male-dominated with content not specifically created for a podcast. The labour of love of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Mgowo is showing as they now look for further growth in advertising.

Broadcasting legend Lerato Tshabalala recently launched her vodcast two months ago, it sets the tone for lifestyle, travel and has a “magazine” feel. She says it took two years to finalise her idea of the podcast and to name it RLVNT. The author used the time and turmoil of the pandemic to create something close to her heart and was influenced by other podcasts such as Super Soul by Oprah.

“I wanted something that spoke to the times we are living in, to help people figure out things and to have longevity and remain relevant initially. I like having a conversation with a guest and share a laugh, it is a very therapeutic podcast too.”

Having a career in media and journalism for years, the radio host says this has really helped her just likes of Mac G and Simmi. Just as the current scene of podcasting in South Africa where those who have come on are still trying to figure it out, there is no blueprint to it.

Guests who have appeared include sports’ first lady, Mpho Letsholonyane, Amazon Live’s Makho Ndlovu, the award-winning medical doctor Sindi van Zyl.

Just like in every new medium, podcasting, the mic is ready to hear more voices and South African audiences are more than ready.

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