Publication of the first Podcasts Observatory study

The Observatoire des podcasts, co-piloted by the French Ministry of culture and communication and the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication (Arcom), has published its first study mapping the sector and its dynamics.

The aim of this observatory is twofold: firstly, to provide a tool for monitoring the podcast ecosystem, and secondly, to create a forum for exchange and reflection between the authorities and professionals, in order to gain a global, shared vision of the sector.

In summary, the study highlights :

• Strong growth in usage;
• A market made up of a large number of companies, supplying an abundance of creative sound creation;
• A growing number of players investing in podcasts, combined with very dynamic growth in the advertising market;
• The gradual structuring of the sector, with a significant number of mergers and diversification operations.

These results were presented by the French Ministry of Culture (Direction générale des médias et industries culturelles) and Arcom at the 20th edition of the Longueur d'ondes festival, dedicated to radio and listening, in Brest.

In the coming months, a second part of the study will focus on the podcast supply, in order to assess its specificity in relation to the existing cultural supply; then a third part of the study will focus on the economic models of the players involved, in order to assess the modalities of survival and to estimate the economic weight of the sector more globally.

A detailed presentation of the work carried out under Axis 1 of the Podcast Observatory, devoted to mapping the sector and its dynamics, is available here.