Africa Podcast Day 2025 was a vibrant celebration of storytelling, creativity, and {industry} progress. It introduced collectively podcasters, voice artists, and media professionals throughout the continent.
Organized by Afripods and APVA, the occasion commenced on February twelfth. Insightful discussions, talks, and masterclasses from numerous {industry} consultants highlighted the evolving panorama of podcasting in Africa. Listed here are six key classes from Africa Podcast Day 2025’s celebration.
1. Observance Days Elevate Creatives’ Visibility in Africa
Observance days like Africa Podcast Day and Africa Voiceover Day are greater than symbolic celebrations. They increase visibility, foster neighborhood, and provide profession progress alternatives.
Talking on APVA’s A and A particular podcast, {industry} leaders Gathoni Ngumba and Chilu Lemba emphasised that nowadays present structured networking, studying assets, and expertise discovery platforms.
Gathoni, drawing from her expertise as Afripods’ Neighborhood Supervisor, shared how initiatives like Afripod Meets assist podcasters join and achieve publicity. Equally, Chilu highlighted how leveraging hashtags reminiscent of #AfricaPodcastDay can considerably improve discoverability, resulting in new collaborations and profession alternatives.
Past celebration, these observance days strategically empower African creatives by providing schooling, {industry} networking, and elevated skilled visibility.
2. Podcasting Is Shaping African Storytelling
Podcasting has turn into a significant device for African storytellers, providing a low-barrier platform to form narratives with out conventional media gatekeepers. In contrast to typical media, podcasts embrace personality-driven content material, making tales extra relatable and interesting.
In a panel dialogue, Impactful Narratives & The Future of African Podcasting, Ghanaian podcasters Joseph Nti of Sincerely Accra and Afi of Keep by Plan famous audiences resonate with podcasts that keep relatability, indigenous accents, and mannerisms.
Gathoni echoed this on the A and A Podcast, noting that the great thing about podcasting lies in its lack of inflexible guidelines. She emphasised that podcasting permits creators to inform tales in their very own voices and on their very own phrases, with out media restrictions.
Furthermore, exterior and inner media form Africa’s narratives, based on Loubna Mckour’s 2022 report, Conflict Narratives in The News and Digital Spaces. Nonetheless, podcasters change this by sharing genuine tales that amplify African voices and problem incomplete or biased portrayals.
Dzifa of Sankasa Podcast emphasised that podcasters ought to prioritize info over opinions.
3. TikTok is Rising as a Podcasting Channel
As African podcasting expands past audio-only codecs, TikTok is rising as a key distribution platform. Youthful audiences choose video-based content material, and podcasters use TikTok clips to drive visitors to full episodes.
Nonetheless, Gathoni highlighted a rising development the place African Gen Z podcasters use the platform’s short-form storytelling instruments for increased engagement.
Provided that TikTok’s algorithm boosts natural discoverability, whereas app options like monetization applications open doorways for brand new income streams and engagement, it is a new alternative for African Podcasters to discover.
Whereas Spotify stays dominant, TikTok’s rise indicators a shift in how African podcasts attain and have interaction audiences in a quickly evolving digital panorama.
Hosted by Afripods, Rodney Omeokachie, host of The Young God podcast, delivered a masterclass on Podcast Intelligence. He coined this idea to explain the intentional and strategic strategy of crafting an immersive audio expertise.
He emphasised that podcasters should transcend merely recording conversations. As a substitute, they need to suppose critically about their strengths as content material creators, the cultural and social context through which they function, and the demographics and psychographics of their viewers.
Furthermore, they need to consider the broader {industry} traits shaping digital storytelling. This structured strategy ensures that each episode delivers most influence and engages listeners.
Omeokachie additionally famous that the storyteller is probably the most highly effective particular person on the planet. It is because storytelling shapes historical past and tradition relating to how societies keep in mind and interpret occasions. It additionally shapes enterprise and advertising and marketing by way of how manufacturers join with customers.
For African podcasters, mastering the artwork of storytelling is essential to rising an viewers and monetizing their craft. This implies embracing their function as narrators and making certain that each phrase spoken carries intent and that means, Omeokachie famous.
Omeokachie’s masterclass emphasised the significance of authenticity in storytelling. He urged podcasters to grasp their very own tales earlier than making an attempt to inform others’. Podcasters’ distinctive views, experiences, and worldviews set their content material aside.
5. Establishments Are Enhancing African Podcasting Trade Development
Gathoni defined that one of many main gaps in African podcasting is entry to industry-specific information. To assist creatives’ progress, African audio establishments give attention to their communities’ wants and use observance days to bridge information gaps.
Organizations like Afripods, Semabox, Baraza Media Lab, and APVA be sure that such days ship actual worth to their communities. They’ve been instrumental in connecting African podcasters with {industry} leaders, facilitating helpful discussions, and making information extra accessible.
Gathoni famous that by offering direct entry to {industry} consultants, Afripods creates networking alternatives between podcasters throughout totally different African nations. These podcasters can meet, collaborate, and talk about {industry} traits.
Furthermore, partaking in podcasting communities can result in elevated discoverability and new alternatives. Whether or not by means of co-hosting episodes, cross-promotions, or {industry} partnerships, working collectively is crucial for the long-term success of Africa’s podcasting {industry}.
This 12 months’s Africa Podcast Day showcased these organizations’ dedication to neighborhood, collaboration, and information sharing. Podcasters In Africa and the Diaspora had been requested to hitch within the celebration of Africa Podcast Day. Podcasters had been requested to share movies about their podcasts and the day’s celebrations with hashtags on Instagram. This boosted visibility and fostered neighborhood and networking efforts for the audio {industry}.
6. The Zimbabwean Podcast Panorama: Challenges and Triumphs
Zimbabwean podcasters, together with 2 Broke Twimbos, Black and Forth, and 6 Ft Weights, shared insights on the challenges of rising and monetizing their exhibits in The Zimbabwean Podcast Landcape panel dialogue.
Danny and Phil of two Broke Twimbos famous that securing advertisers has been troublesome, with most profitable promoting sponsorships coming from the diaspora. King Kandoro of Black and Forth Podcast added that whereas some advertisers have interaction, many contemplate podcast advert charges too excessive. Consequently, creators depend on crowdfunding revenue.
In the meantime, the podcasters from 6 Ft Weights, Thabo and Sana shared their distinctive struggles. They spoke candidly concerning the challenges of balancing time and uncensored content material. Nonetheless, they expressed hope that by restructuring their workflow and committing extra time and assets, they might rework their podcast right into a extra profitable enterprise.
Regardless of these challenges, Zimbabwean podcasters stay passionate, leveraging inventive options to maintain their platforms whereas pushing for {industry} progress.
Closing Ideas: The Future
Two components stand out within the forecast for Africa’s podcast market: participation and expertise.
The Podcast Market in Africa
Africa’s podcasting {industry} is on an upward trajectory, with growing creator participation, increasing monetization alternatives, and rising international recognition.
Countries like South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya continue to lead the market. However different nations, together with Ghana, Zambia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, and lots of others, expertise regular progress.
Analysis from Statista exhibits that the African podcast market is projected to develop by 7.88% yearly, reaching $18.78 million by 2027.
This progress is pushed by Africa’s younger and digitally savvy inhabitants, mixed with elevated entry to smartphones and web accessibility, in addition to the reshaped narratives about Africa and Africans.
Know-how and Innovation
Know-how is taking part in an important function on this enlargement. Improvements like Afripods’ Broadcast-to-Podcast (B2P) technology have reworked how content material is created, distributed, and monetized.
The expertise proved profitable, with an 895% improve in streams for taking part radio stations and networks in 6 months in 2023. “Afripods B2P at the moment has over 110 radio stations throughout eight African nations producing content material in additional than ten languages with a median month-to-month improve of 112% streams for stations.”
Additionally, 2024 discussions by Baraza Media Lab highlighted a number of key traits in African podcasting.
YouTube has turn into a serious platform for podcast distribution in Africa. Nonetheless, creators had been inspired to make their content material accessible throughout a number of platforms, together with Spotify and Afripods, to maximise attain.
Moreover, there was a rise in local podcasts. “Extra creators produce podcasts in native languages. Opposite to limiting your viewers, this strategy may entice a robust following from diaspora communities trying to reconnect with life again dwelling,” Baraza Media Lab famous.
Lastly, African podcasters have additionally embraced Artificial Intelligence (AI). By developments in modifying, captioning, and even content material era, AI is bettering the productiveness of creators. Nonetheless, it additionally presents challenges, together with the potential unfold of AI-generated misinformation.
What’s Subsequent for Africa’s Podcast Panorama?
Africa Podcast Day 2025 strengthened the immense potential of the continent’s podcasting and voiceover industries. The important thing classes from this occasion will form the way forward for African audio content material. As such, aspiring and seasoned podcasters and voice artists alike are inspired to personal their tales, amplify their voices, and seize the alternatives in Africa’s rising podcasting panorama.
Trying forward, African podcasters should give attention to content material innovation, strategic monetization, and cross-platform distribution to maximise attain. With continued funding, collaboration, and strategic partnerships, the {industry} is ready to turn into a robust drive in international media.
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