The Revolution of Podcasts: How it takes over Airwaves

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October

2020

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Audio storytelling by podcasts has been on its rise since the technical breakthrough when Apple launched its iPod in 2003. The iPhone podcast app provided a library system for listeners. Since then, impressive progress in inexpensive recording production and editing equipment took place. Followed by the advancement of 4G mobile connectivity, it made listeners possible to browse, download, or stream shows whenever they wanted.

Today podcasts are widely available on a range of platforms, with streaming platforms like Spotify competing with downloads. Spotify has been pushing into podcasts for the past three years. Last year, they spent $500 million to acquire podcast start-ups to compete with radio and diversify from music streaming’s costly business. Although Spotify is a leader in paid music streaming, large margins of 70% are cut back by paid royalties to music labels. However, podcasting is an area where they could avoid the punishing cost structure. This is mainly due to a highly fragmented industry that is owned by independent content-creators and many start-ups. In fact, podcasting has developed into something that everyone wants to join. Big tech companies and record labels are pouring hundreds of millions into landing the next big audio show. Apple has recently bought ScoutFM, a podcast curation application, and is allegedly looking to create its original podcasts. In the meanwhile, Amazon added podcasts to its music services.

Besides the financial benefits and the unexplored areas for corporates, podcasting revolutionizes the broadcast industry by offering a distinctive medium. It has made listeners possible to experience a more personal relationship between creators and them. A radio broadcast reaches large numbers of communal listeners, many of them not giving the program their full attention. However, podcasts, on the other hand, are often overheard via earphones, so the producer has a different relationship with the listener. One has to choose what you’re going to hear rather than just accepting what the station transmits. The audio signal is no longer just background noise: it comes straight into your ears, which implies that podcasting has a higher cognitive bandwidth than broadcasting. It can often convey more academically challenging ideas and content. Additionally, media companies like the New York Times has found out that podcasting enabled them to connect with a completely different demographic from its standard audience. They’re often younger, and most of them would never think of buying a newspaper.

Although podcasts have transformed how one listens to audio storytelling, wherein the most significant shift has been from live to on-demand, the developments in this sector are still in full swing. How do you see the future of the audio industry? Do you expect podcasting to be mainstream in a few years?

References:
– Naughton, John. “Podcasting Refreshes the Parts That Radio Cannot Reach – but for How Much Longer? | John Naughton.” The Guardian, 30 Nov. 2019, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/30/podcasting-fifteenth-years-old-corporate-greed-threat. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.
– Nicolaou, Anna, and Alex Barker. “How Podcasting Became a New Front in the Streaming Wars.” Financial Times, 6 Oct. 2000, www.ft.com/content/f2c5efbe-e4aa-4758-b303-c1eb0c6bbf03. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.
– Nicolaou, Anna, and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson. “Spotify Makes $500m Splurge on Podcast Start-Ups.” Financial Times, 6 Feb. 2019, www.ft.com/content/42fb0fb4-2a0c-11e9-88a4-c32129756dd8. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.
– Robertson, Jamie. “How Podcasts Went from Unlistenable to Unmissable.” BBC News, 26 Sept. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/business-49279177. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.
– Rosenblatt, Bill. “New Podcast Listeners Are Coming From Radio, Not Music.” Forbes, 29 Mar. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/billrosenblatt/2020/03/29/new-podcast-listeners-are-coming-from-radio-not-music/#45282e5d6790. Accessed 9 Oct. 2020.

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How China is setting the rules in new tech standards

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October

2020

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Since the beginning of the China–United States trade war, the world’s two largest economies keep intensifying geopolitical battleground on technological standards for global influence. Therefore one might rightfully ask why it matters. Initially, such standards might seem irrelevant, but they are a decisive element of technological developments. The party that controls the bureaucratic rule-setting would have a first-mover advantage for the economy. For decades, standard-setting has primarily been the privilege of a small group of Western-dominated organizations, but the tides might turn soon.

Beijing intends to control the next generation of digital infrastructure by advancing standards, which is executed in three areas. Firstly, China is developing first-class technology in several emerging fields, such as 5G telecoms and AI. Secondly, as it distributes this technology to more than a hundred countries that participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, it encourages loyalty to a distinctly Chinese set of standards. Lastly, China is enhancing its authority in the UN and other standards-setting bodies to improve its own companies’ interests.

Essential to promoting Chinese standards overseas is the Belt and Road Initiative. One could perceive it as a massive Chinese program to build infrastructure in most developing countries. However, the underlying purpose is to spread Chinese technologies — and the standards they operate on — across the developing world by assembling what Beijing calls a “digital silk road.” Beijing has been mainly promoting her internet and cyber governance playbook in many countries, lately by establishing 5G connectivity and smart city projects. The latter aim of this standards diffusion technique is to incorporate many emerging technologies ranging from facial recognition systems to AI cameras.
While China is establishing standards through international export and foreign implementation of its technology, she is also active in signing political agreements to the same end. Since 2019, 85 standardization partnership contracts with 49 countries and regions had been signed. Furthermore, China is also trying to push institutional standards agencies to recognize its rising influence. In 2015, the International Organization for Standardization received its first Chinese president when Zhang Xiaogang was chosen for three years. Similarly, China has once again seen her influence grow since the appointment of Shu Yinbiao within the International Electrotechnical Commission, an institute that brings out standards on all electronic items. In 2019, China proposed 11 standards for the IoT within the IEC framework, whereas five had been adopted and published while the other six are still pending.

It is not a matter of fact whether China is setting the rules in the industrial standard. Instead, it is how the US will deal with China’s increased influence and how Europe should prevent herself from being squeezed by those two competing superpowers.

Sources:

  • Beattie, Alan. “Technology: How the US, EU and China Compete to Set Industry Standards.” Financial Times, 24 July 2019, www.ft.com/content/0c91b884-92bb-11e9-aea1-2b1d33ac3271. Accessed 8 Oct. 2020.
  • Kynge, James, and Nian Liu. “From AI to Facial Recognition: How China Is Setting the Rules in New Tech.” Financial Times, 7 Oct. 2020, www.ft.com/content/188d86df-6e82-47eb-a134-2e1e45c777b6. Accessed 8 Oct. 2020.

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