Guys, Podcasting Is Officially A Movement
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to LA (mostly because I was on the flight almost as long as I was actually in the city) to attend one of the largest podcast conferences in North America, Podcast Movement. Yes guys, podcasting conferences exists and despite what people may think about us audio nerds, these conferences make us cool….somewhat.
To put it into perspective, I’ll throw some numbers out there to emphasize how immense and relevant this industry has become.
There are currently over 2M podcasts being produced and published worldwide. To highlight this insane growth, Apple confirmed there were just over 550,000 podcasts in June 2018.
In 2020, roughly 842 million U.S. dollars were generated through podcast advertising in the United States.
I mean, everyone has a podcast. Or a podcast network. Or is investing in one.
Everyone.
While conferences may seem futile, let me tell you, as an independent podcaster talking into her microphone alone most days, connecting with people in the podcasting industry is crucial.
It is the validation freelancers like myself need in order to feel like what we’re doing…well, matters. In an industry like podcasting in particular, which is still considered the “wild, wild, west”, having any sort of method to the madness explained to you goes a very long way. It is only at conferences like Podcast Movement that storytellers, networks, producers, advertisers, and those fancy tech people can unite in a truly genuine way.
Seriously, I felt the love and support all weekend.
With the Brown Podcast Crew- Sim Sarna, Niki Aggarwal, Anchal Chand
So thank you to Podcast Movement for allowing me to pitch and moderate the first ever South Asian podcast panel aptly named “Brown Table Talks- South Asians in Podcasting” (I know, I should be in marketing). It was so cathartic conversing with a panel of South Asian podcasters and sharing our journeys in an open forum.
Oh, I also have a podcast I should talk about as well….so I would love for you guys to check out my interview with my friend Sonny Caberwal.
When I met Sonny Caberwal in 2010 at a bar in Delhi, he was in the midst of building the earliest e-commerce fashion companies, Exclusively.In. I never imagined we would end up working together for 3 years in India, building a business, traveling around the country, and attending (also understanding, cause for real, what is going on) IPL cricket matches.
Last week, twelve years later, I got a chance to catch up with him to talk about it all.... including parenthood, how life inevitably has changed our worldview, and about his outstanding journey as an entrepreneur and his current venture as CEO of Ever Scouts. Ever Scouts is on a mission to help families raise responsible kids and learn life skills not normally taught in schools.
Lord knows I need all the help I can get. Hi kids.
So check it out, it’s a pretty fun episode. And don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you can’t make it happen.
No slaps will be served.