Podcast listeners crossed half a billion folks on the finish of final 12 months as listenership maintained regular progress. With nations within the Arab world having a few of the most engaged listeners, a podcasting startup out of Dubai is doubling down on the chance.
Podeo is a UAE-based podcast distribution platform that has made a reputation for itself within the Arab world. After reaching a subscriber base of fifty million, it believes it has discovered the method for tapping customers in rising markets, it has now raised a Collection A of $5.4 million to broaden in Latin America, Jap Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Oraseya Capital, the VC arm of Dubai Built-in Financial Zones Authority, is main this spherical. Different individuals within the Collection A embrace Ibtikar Fund, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Samarium, iSME, and returning investor Razor Capital.
Podeo actually lit up and got here to life in 2020, however that was not when it began. CEO Stefano Fallaha first got here up with the thought when nonetheless a highschool pupil in Beirut in 2015-2016, a facet mission the place he tried to construct an audio-based social community, calling it Fallound — a variation on his personal title that additionally feels like sound/round. The startup then shifted gears to change into as a wise podcast aggregator that made suggestions based mostly on, as an example, mode of transportation and size of journey, curiosity, and moods.
The app because it existed, nonetheless, failed to achieve traction within the Center East-North Africa area (MENA) that it focused, resulting from a dearth of fascinating Arabic content material, Fallaha instructed TechCrunch.
However because the unlucky saying about media goes, unhealthy information sells. It was the notorious Beirut chemical explosion in 2020 — which killed greater than 200 folks, displaced an additional 300,000, value an estimated $15 billion in property injury, was so robust that it was felt in different nations, and didn’t have an instantaneous clarification — that turned issues round.
Folks turned to Podeo to share their experiences and different tales, prayers, and messages of hope. “Genuine storytelling was extra pressing than ever,” Fallaha mentioned.
It was a pivotal second for the startup. “It solidified our function not simply as a platform for expression, however as an area for folks to attach, heal, and discover consolation in shared tales,” he mentioned. Anthony Essaye and Mario Hayek who each had been software program engineers at Fallound going again to 2018, signed on as full co-founders as the corporate reinvented itself but once more out of that viral success. The corporate relocated to Dubai and it’s been going at full quantity since.
Podcasting as a medium has largely grown on the success and profile in choose markets. A worldwide podcasting analysis report from eMarketer, for instance, doesn’t even embrace Jap Europe, the Center East and Africa.
However one other examine, from YouGov, reveals an fascinating pattern: folks in very populous nations in these areas which can be much less within the podcast highlight become a few of the most engaged. South Africa, if discovered, “is house to the best proportion of normal podcast listeners of any market surveyed, at 68%.” Saudi Arabia ranked second globally at 59%, with Egypt at 56%, UAE at 53%, and Morocco at 45% — all “above-average.” (Sarcastically, Podeo’s house market of Lebanon was one of many solely surveyed that, at 31%, was under the worldwide common of normal podcast listeners.)
Fallaha believes what it’s constructed thus far could be a robust template for concentrating on that lengthy tail of different markets.
“As we broaden globally throughout Southeast Asia, Jap Europe and Latam, Podeo continues to show that storytelling is a common bridge, important for connection and understanding,” he mentioned.
To hold on with genuine storytelling, particularly in Arabic, Podeo dived into producing unique podcasts and collaborating with creators to supply its subscribers selection.
Fallaha mentioned collaborating with creators revealed to the startup that podcasters used totally different instruments, which made the manufacturing course of prolonged. This led Podeo to construct extra software program, particularly end-to-end merchandise to present creators full manufacturing help.
Now podcasters can audio edit, sound design, do branding, and blend their audio on Podeo and “inside 24 hours, mark it with notes and obtain a completely polished, ready-for-distribution episode.” Podeo makes use of its ad-tech resolution to programmatically inject advertisements at a number of factors all through the episodes, giving creators a simple approach to earn a living.
With this method, Podeo was in a position to entice creators in droves, onboarding greater than 100,000 in below two years.
Nonetheless, whereas content material streamed in, listenership was subpar, forcing Podeo to go for different channels to faucet a wider viewers base. The startup shaped partnerships with a number of offline and on-line channels, together with conventional radio stations; Jawaker, a card recreation app in MENA, the place the startup built-in an SDK to permit players to passively pay attention whereas taking part in; and with in-flight leisure supplier Anuvu.
In contrast to common platforms resembling Podimo, Podeo doesn’t cost listeners any subscription payment, and can quickly not require creators to pay for subscriptions, as an alternative relying completely on promoting for income.
“At Podeo, our mission is to develop alongside our creators, and we refuse to let subscription charges stand in the way in which of unlocking their full potential. That’s why we’re eliminating all creator subscription packages, making Podeo a totally free internet hosting and distribution platform,” mentioned Fallaha. “We don’t impose a paywall for listeners, and we stay dedicated to proceed including solely income fashions that actually empower creators — like memberships, tipping, and tokenization — so their voices can thrive and be monetized with out limitations.”
Having a decentralized medium, Fallaha says, is a singular alternative that enables them to deliver podcasts to channels that folks already use to devour audio content material.
“Our enterprise mannequin additionally aligns completely with creators’ wants: we’re not chasing consolidated app audiences to monetize in a single area. As a substitute, we’ve developed ad-tech that distributes advertisements seamlessly throughout all these decentralized channels. Creators achieve entry to new audiences they hadn’t imagined, whereas manufacturers optimize their budgets throughout a number of platforms without delay, with no need to go on to a radio or streaming app.”
Fallaha says by taking hyper-local approaches to provide, demand, and monetization, Podeo is addressing wants of rising markets, giving them a aggressive benefit over worldwide gamers resembling Acast, which entered the MENA area final 12 months.