What is a podcast? In short, it is an audio programme, and more and more often a video one too, that is published online in episodes and that you can listen to whenever you like. It has no broadcast time and you do not need to be in front of a set at a particular moment: the episode is there, waiting for you, and you play it on the underground, in the car or while you cook.
That is the short definition. The long one is more interesting, because it explains why the podcast has become one of the favourite ways of telling stories.
The word was born in the early 2000s by joining “iPod”, Apple’s music player, and “broadcast”. Today the iPod is barely remembered and podcasts are played on phones, on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts or on YouTube, but the name stayed. You can see the full definition in the Cambridge Dictionary.
I come from radio and television, so I am asked this often. Radio is broadcast live and at a fixed time: if you are not there, you miss it, unless the station uploads it later. A podcast works the other way round. It is recorded first, published afterwards and each person listens at their own pace; they can pause it, go back or listen to three episodes in a row on a Sunday afternoon.
The relationship with the listener changes too. On the radio you speak to many people at once. In a podcast, with headphones on, it feels like a conversation in your ear. That is why podcasts create so much closeness and loyalty.
Almost all of them fit one of these formats: the interview, in which someone asks and a guest tells their story; the conversation between two or three regular hosts who discuss a topic; the monologue, with a single voice that explains, gives opinions or narrates; and the documentary or audio drama, more elaborate, with a script, music and editing. The interview is the most common because it is the simplest to produce and the best one to start with.
A few years ago a podcast was audio only. Now many are also recorded on video and published on YouTube, where a large share of people discover them. Video has another advantage: each episode produces short clips for Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn, and those are what make someone who did not know you end up listening to the whole episode. If this part interests you, we explain it in videos for social media.
For listeners, it is a way to learn, be entertained or keep themselves company. For the people who make it, however, it is above all a way to become known. A company that publishes a podcast stops being a logo and gains a voice. A professional who talks about what they know for forty minutes builds more trust than with a hundred posts. And a person with something to say finds their audience without asking anyone’s permission.
Just open Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or any podcast app, search for the name of the show and press play. If you like it, follow it and new episodes will appear automatically. In the vast majority of cases it is free.
It is easier than it looks. I explain it in this step-by-step guide, and if you want to record it in a studio with a technician and three cameras, you can see what a session at our studio is like.
Today, many podcasts are also recorded on video. We explain it in what a video podcast is, and if you are interested in the brand format, in branded podcast.
Written by Adina Harnagea, journalist and co-founder of the studio.