Podcasts: Whatever, Wherever, and Whenever

A podcast is a multimedia file designed for download and subscription. It has become a key tool for publishing content, with Spain being one of the countries with the highest demand and Spanish one of the top podcast languages.

Distributed online, a podcast (also called a vodcast) has one or more episodes and can cover a variety of topics. It can be listened to online or downloaded whenever and wherever, without an Internet connection, and with the possibility of being a subscriber.

An anglicism accepted by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, the word podcast is a portmanteau of 'pod' (public on demand) and 'broadcast'.

Journalist Ben Hammersley, from the British newspaper The Guardian, first used the term podcast when referring to it as a new and emerging means of communication. But the product as such had already existed years earlier.

Unlike conventional radio or the Internet, the user can choose whatever they want to listen to, whenever and wherever, without being forced to follow set schedules, and according to their tastes and availability.

A podcast doesn't rely on major corporations for its production. Anyone with a smartphone and who has something to say, whether professional or not, can create and broadcast their own content across numerous platforms.

In addition to general podcasts of radio programs, the huge success of podcasting is thanks to influencers or ordinary citizens creating their own content, as in the case of 'La Pija y la Quinqui' in Spain.

Spanish-language listeners prefer — in this order — podcasts on investigative journalism, history, humor and comedy, political issues, cultural issues, and healthy living.

82.67% of Spanish-language users listen to their favorite podcasts when doing household chores, 73.80% in their free time, 53.72% while driving, 49.81% while doing sports, and 44.74% at work, as indicated by a report by the Ivoox Observatory.

One of the first podcasts in Spanish was broadcast on October 18, 2004 by journalist José Antonio Gelado with the program 'Comunicando,' which was about new technologies and digital culture.

Spain is the third country in the world and first in Europe in terms of podcast listeners. And the audience is mostly young. More than half of Spanish Internet users listen to podcasts, according to Digital News Report.

In Latin America, Brazil has the highest number of listeners, with 57% of the population consuming podcasts. Chile, Argentina, and Mexico also stand out in the Americas, according to Digital News Report Spain.

The creation of content by the Spanish-speaking community is skyrocketing as each year goes by. It has increased sevenfold since 2019, according to the Ivoox Observatory. Worldwide, Google lists more than 2 million podcasts.

The most famous podcast in Spain in 2023 is Santiago Camacho's 'Días Extraños,' which tells stories about paranormal events. It's followed by the comedy show 'Nadie sabe nada' by Buenafuente and Berto Romero, and 'The Wild Project' by Jordi Wild, which is about curious news stories.

In Latin America, three Mexican podcasts lead the Spanish-speaking market: 'Relatos de la Noche' by Uriel Reyes; followed by 'La Corneta' by Eduardo Videgaray and José Ramón San Cristóbal; and in third place, 'Leyendas Legendarias' by Eduardo Espinosa and Mario López Capistrán.

Caso 63' has garnered audiences from both hemispheres, becoming the most listened-to fictional podcast in the world and rolling out versions in countries such as India, Brazil, and the US. Its director is the Chilean Julio Rojas.

EFE is the first Spanish-language agency in the world to produce its own podcasts, including the current affairs magazines 'Noticias Paralelas' and 'GMT'; the health show 'Tabú mental'; the sports program 'A por el Título'; and the tech program 'Átomos y bits'.