THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Listening to songs during mundane tasks – like folding clothes or cleaning the room – is a long-standing habit of many, especially the young. For some, podcasts are a better use of their time during chores.
Tapping into this newfound publicity space in poll-bound Kerala are politicians, who are appearing as guests in podcasts run by influencers or freelance interviewers with the hopes of connecting with the latter’s solid share of listeners in the digital space.
A key difference between podcasts and public speeches are the former are more focused on discussions on development rather than politics or community issues.
“Engaging with podcast listeners can sway a voter’s mind,” said Sharique Samsudheen, an entrepreneur and finance content creator who is one of the first persons to be part of the recent trend of poll-related podcasts.
“How often do you see a politician sitting down and having a two-hour-long, free and unfiltered conversation? Voters are considering the intellectual capability and professional experience of people contesting to lead them.”
On his recent podcasts with Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and Finance Minister K N Balagopal, Sharique said he only endorses guests who speak with facts and figures, rather than making blatant political remarks.
The reach of podcasts generally depends on how interesting the conversation gets, said the office of vlogger and podcaster Sujith Bhakthan. “Generally, we have observed that contents in which politicians talk about their personal lives get better reach.” They also said not all politician-podcasts are free of political remarks, and hence, the comments will also be a mix of the same. Sujith had recently interacted with Health Minister Veena George and BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Quality of audio and content are the only two priorities people have about podcasts, commented RJ Gaddafi, who recently interacted with Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala. “Even if the statistics for the long sessions are not high, it will definitely gain a huge audience through Instagram reels and YouTube shorts.” The no-format discussions make it more of a light-hearted talk, Gaddafi said.
On her interaction with Industries Minister P Rajeeve, actor and anchor Parvathy Babu said the reactions were generally positive. “One of the key areas of discussion was the politics of Gen-Z and how their political expressions are evolving. Notably, most of our listeners are of the 20-40 age range,” she said.
However, despite refraining from going deeper into party politics, Parvathy said there were some rare comments that accused her of being part of a political front.
While many podcasters remarked that their content aired to date has not been part of any political PR, some mentioned that agencies are actively approaching frontrunner channels and podcasters for their clients.
“Some politicians who lack a pan-Kerala image have approached us for such sessions; we haven’t taken those up,” a senior professional from an online media told TNIE.
“Poll promotions evolved from wall writings and posters to HD videos and promo songs. Podcast is just its latest version,” a podcaster said.
This story has been written by Aswin Asok Kumar of The New Indian Express.