Communiqué 70: Maybe podcasts can scale in Africa after all
New formats, growing audiences, and deeper institutional support show that podcasting in Africa might have a future, one network at a time.
Presented by Moniepoint
Keypoints
1. Podcast networks signal a new growth phase. Africa’s podcast industry is shifting from individual-led shows to structured, brand-backed networks. Companies like OkayAfrica and Pulse are consolidating content to boost discoverability, retain IP, and attract bigger advertisers. This model allows for continuity even if hosts leave and creates scale across multiple audience segments.
2. Format innovation is a competitive advantage. While chat-style podcasts remain popular, narrative and documentary formats are gaining ground. Shows like The Republic Podcast and 4th Republic demonstrate demand for deeper storytelling and higher production value. These formats stand out, attract critical acclaim, and open up premium partnership opportunities.
3. Platform strategy is as important as production. African audiences spend most of their time on social and messaging apps, not podcast platforms. The most successful podcasters adapt their content into clips, visuals, and formats that travel well across these platforms. Video podcasts, in particular, perform better in driving engagement and virality.
1. Another podcast network?
Joey Akan’s Lagos apartment is no stranger to public conversations. It’s where the award-winning journalist has recorded classic interviews with some of Afrobeats' most important players. Last week, it also became the unlikely venue for the launch of the OkayAfrica podcast network.
Gathered in the same living room where the new season of Afrobeats Intelligence was taped, a small group of media insiders toasted the launch of OkayAfrica’s podcast network: a new slate of shows spanning music, politics, and diaspora commentary, released in partnership with Okayplayer.
The rollout included a mix of new podcasts and pre-existing ones now brought under the OkayAfrica umbrella, including Akan's Afrobeats Intelligence, one of Africa’s most popular music podcasts; No Wahala, a breezy, transatlantic culture show hosted by Nigerian-Americans Tune Day and Bawo; To Be Clear, a sharp, interview-driven series spotlighting African creatives and changemakers; and Bird’s Eye View, a continental current affairs podcast hosted by musician Seun Kuti and cultural commentator Diallo Kenyatta.
The launch also signaled something deeper: a shift in the African podcast ecosystem from independent, creator-driven shows to more structured, institution-backed networks. Where individual creators once carried the format’s early promise, media platforms like Pulse, Culture Custodian, Eggcorn Digital, and OkayAfrica are laying the groundwork for a more formalized podcast industry.
2. Back in time
On February 15, 2016, Pulse became one of the first African publications to launch a podcast with the Loose Talk Podcast. Hosted by then-music journalist Osagie Alonge, alongside Steve Dede and Ayomide Tayo, Loose Talk offered sharp and, sometimes, combative conversations about music, pop culture, and society. Over more than 200 episodes, the trio cultivated a loyal following and, at times, stirred enough controversy to earn death threats. But their message resonated, and Loose Talk grew to become one of the most popular podcasts.
As Loose Talk found its audience, the podcasting wave was also swelling across the continent. Creators and listeners alike were drawn to its freedom: unlike terrestrial radio, podcasts allowed deeper conversations, niche topics, and fewer gatekeepers. Soon, other companies took note and began to create podcast networks.
An early player was Midas Radio, the first home of the I Said What I Said Podcast. Other companies like Eggcorn Digital, Urbangidi, and Clout Africa would later launch their networks. In 2019, Osagie Alonge left Pulse, taking with him the intellectual property for Loose Talk. He would later relaunch the podcast under Global Village, his own network.
3. Peeling back the layers
In “Communiqué 10: Can podcasts scale in Africa?”, we wrote:
“If people already spend most of their screen time on social media and instant messaging, then podcasters need to do a better job of meeting people where they are instead of just creating for their podcast platforms… The most successful writers and video creators also know to adapt their content per platform and create conversations around that content or insert it into relevant conversations. I’m not just talking about sharing links to your podcast on social media, but also adapting it to each platform to optimise distribution.”
We’ve now seen this strategy crystallize across the continent. While most podcasts vary in focus, they share one key trait: they are “chat casts” — informal, personality- and opinion-driven conversations anchored by their hosts and guests. This format has done particularly well with the Nigerian audience and, when combined with video, has spawned soundbites that go viral. “Nigerians want to watch stuff, which is why video podcasts do better. Among the big players today, some started with audio but quickly moved to video, while others were video podcasts right from the start,” Damilola Dawson, Pulse’s Head of Content, told Communiqué.
This personality-driven chatcast structure made the podcasts vibrant and relatable, but also fragile. As hosts moved on to other projects or left the company, the shows’ continuity came into question. In 2021, Pulse officially launched a podcast network, debuting a new slate of shows: Terms and Conditions, Women Talk Sex, and Life in Naija. While these new podcasts had hosts, they were more publication-driven, and Pulse retained the IP. For instance, when the hosts of Terms and Conditions left the Pulse network, the company simply relaunched the podcast and expanded its focus.
South Africa’s Podcast and Chill Network, founded in 2018, includes a collection of 17 podcasts, most also adopt the chatcast format. The Africa Podcast Network, founded in 2009, has a bit more variety and hosts shows for Daily Maverick and Mail & Guardian. Still, most of the network’s shows are heavily conversation-based.
Platforms like Culture Custodian are doing things differently. In the lead-up to Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, it completely eschewed the traditional chatcast format and embraced the scripted, documentary style. It introduced 4th Republic, a podcast examining Nigerian politics through a cultural lens, with voiceovers, archival tape, and original reporting.
“It’s easy for anyone to share an opinion on a subject,” Mayowa Idowu, Culture Custodian’s Editor-in-Chief, told Communiqué. “But we did not want to do that. We wanted to be detailed and provide the most informed commentary on any topic.”
Despite this, however, one Culture Custodian’s most popular podcast—Submarine and A Roach—still adopts the chatcast format, showing just how deeply they resonate with the audience.
That said, the documentary format has proven most popular with niche publications catering to a non-mainstream audience. For instance, in 2023, culture magazine The Republic launched its self-titled narrative documentary podcast. The podcast has since earned critical acclaim, including a prestigious One World Media Award nomination.
4. The endgame
For African publications launching podcast networks, the Vox Media Podcast Network is the ideal model. Founded in 2013 as an audio extension of the digital-first Vox Media brand, the network grew from a handful of shows into a sprawling ecosystem covering news, culture, tech, sports, and politics. Flagship titles like Today, Explained, The Weeds, and Pivot helped the network cultivate highly engaged niche audiences. As of 2024, the Vox Media Podcast Network had more than 30 actively publishing podcasts reaching a unique global monthly audience of over 10 million.
But the secret to Vox Media’s success isn't just content but the strategy behind it. Rather than rely on a few big-name personalities, the Vox Media Podcast Network built a large, diverse portfolio of shows under a single brand umbrella. This gave them flexibility and scale. With each new show, they deepened their reach across different audience segments.
In the same way, these African publications are expanding their audience reach with podcasts. “Not everyone will read the publication, but with podcasts we can increase the scope of the Culture Custodian audience,” Idowu said.
Also, consolidating the podcasts into one network can drive content discovery, as a podcast can be cross-promoted to another podcast within the network with a similar audience.
The scale the podcast network brings is also beneficial, as it can attract bigger advertising deals, particularly if brands are interested in advertising on more than one show in the network or across all the shows. Vox, looking to take advantage of this opportunity, consolidated all its podcasts into a single website in 2019.
As podcasts continue to grow in popularity across the continent, media companies are likely to expand their networks, either by acquiring promising independent creator-led shows or experimenting with new original content. The goal isn't just to amplify individual voices, but to shape a sustainable ecosystem where content, audiences, and revenue can flow in sync, ultimately building a more resilient creative economy.
Four years ago, we asked if podcasts could scale in Africa, positing that “The world is moving away from linear programming to on-demand content, and podcasting is one way that is happening. Africans may not listen to podcasts often yet, but as we already established, they listen to on-demand audio.”
Four years later, that question is being answered, and our observation is playing out in full flow.