Getting into podcasts could be a shrewd move for TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance. — AFP Relaxnews
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is increasingly looking to diversify and boost its advertising revenues. Its strategy for doing so? Invest in podcasts, as platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are already doing.
TikTok is reportedly preparing to launch its own application dedicated to these particularly popular audio shows, according to Podnews, a newsletter focusing on the podcast industry. Podcast hosting company Audiomeans told the specialist media that it has spotted a "new bot" scraping its RSS feeds since Oct 11. The company then apparently tracked it back to several IP addresses, which in turn led it to TikTok.
For the moment, neither the social network nor its parent company, ByteDance, has publicly announced their intention to enter the world of podcasts. However, it could be in their interest to do so. This market has been booming in recent years, and shows double-digit growth both in terms of listener numbers, offer and advertising.
Another benefit is that podcasts have now well and truly entered into the habits of consumers around the world, especially among younger people. More than a third of American 18-to-24-year-olds listen to podcasts at least once a week, according to the latest editions of Spotify's Culture Next report.
This age group represents TikTok's core target audience. The online shopping platform Shopify estimates that more than 43% of the social network's global users are between the ages of 18 and 24, compared to 32% of 25- to-34 year olds.
TikTok recently tried its hand at podcasting through its Middle East and North Africa arm. In September, it launched "Future of Retail," a show that seeks to shed light on the evolution of the retail industry. Episodes of this podcast are structured around discussions between Aref Yehia, head of retail and e-commerce for TikTok in the Middle East and North Africa, and some of the major players in the sector.
Competing with Spotify
This first (timid) step into the world of podcasting shows ByteDance's willingness to try to diversify the activities of its flagship application. This strategy could allow it to step up its competition with rivals Instagram and YouTube. Faced with the TikTok phenomenon, both platforms launched their own short-form video options – Reels and Shorts – in 2020, with mixed success.
In addition to podcasts, the Chinese Internet giant is also moving into the territory of Spotify and Apple Music by rolling out its music streaming service on a global scale. Its name? Resso. For now, it's only available in India, Indonesia and Brazil. ByteDance is considering launching it in a dozen other markets, but not immediately in the United States.
With this in mind, the digital champion has begun discussions with music companies. These have been tense at times because of disagreements over how to value the promotional benefits of TikTok for labels, according to internal sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.
Despite this, one thing is clear: ByteDance is always on the lookout for new opportunities to evolve TikTok. No longer a pure entertainment tool, the app is reinventing itself by offering a more varied content offer to its millions of users. And adding podcasts to the mix could shape up to be a real winner for ByteDance. – AFP Relaxnews
