– The motivation is not dependent on the number of listeners, says project manager in the Directorate of Health, Adélie Dorseuil. According to Podtoppen, the podcast “DigiUng-podden” has had between 20 and 50 plays every week since mid-November. – The podcast is for people who work with children and young people, especially in the public sector, and is therefore a small target group. By comparison, the most popular podcast today, “Christmas atmosphere with Live and Ronny”, has around 500,000 plays in recent weeks. The Directorate of Health’s DigiUng podcast. The aim of the podcast is to share information about ongoing work and knowledge about digital services for children and young people from a public perspective. The “DigiYoung podcast” started this year and is part of a trend. It is not only private individuals who create podcasts. – The new big thing – Are we ready guys? – We are ready. – Then we start a new episode of “Grytå Podcast”. The group of friends Mathias Løvereide Tangen, (24), Henrik Hellesen (21) and Fredrik Kvamme (21) published the first episode of their new podcast in November. Henrik Hellesen in “Grytå Podkast” says the proportion listening to the episodes is increasing. Photo: Simon Elias Bogen / news The genre of the podcast is unfiltered humour, they say. They are among many who have started up in the last year. – People may be getting tired of just listening to music. Podcasts are the new big thing, say the gang from Haugesund. 600,000 more this year You are not on the wrong track with that idea. In fact, Norwegians have never listened to more podcasts than we do now. There are almost 7,000 registered podcasts in Norway, according to figures from Podcastindex. The total podcast market in Norway has grown by 5 per cent in the past year. In 2005, Kurér was launched on news P2 as Norway’s first podcast. Since then, the popularity of the audio medium has increased, and today 46 percent of us listen to podcasts. It shows figures from the Podrapporten for 2023 (external link). It is relatively cheap to produce your own podcast. What you need are mainly microphones, headphones and a mixing console. Maybe there is a reason why it is so popular to make? Photo: Simon Elias Bogen / news In last year’s report, 35 per cent listened. Public institutions have low numbers of listeners – We have just over 200 listeners a week, says communications adviser at the Consumer Council, Bengt-Eigil Ruud. Bengt-Eigil Ruud. He is a communications advisor and presenter of the Consumer Council’s podcast. He says they have had a stable increase in the number of listeners, but says they would like to see more interest. Photo: Forbrukerrådet He is the host of the podcast called “Life Hacks with Forbrukerrådet”. They started in the spring of 2022. – That is a much too low number. But we are betting on a new season, he says. – Tough competition The Swedish Road Administration also has its own podcast. They have between 200 and 450 listeners each week on “Snakk i vei”. Frida Gunnestad Johansen is a podcast presenter and senior communications advisor at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. – There is fierce and great competition in the world of podcasts. The target group of road users is a very broad target group, which means that all the episodes do not have the same relevance for everyone, she says. Frida Gunnestad Johansen is a senior communications advisor and presenter of the Norwegian Road Administration’s podcast. She says the Swedish Road Administration created a podcast to have another channel to spread their message. Photo: Guro Sommer Værland – Can lead to pressure Heidi Bøhagen is a podcast reviewer in Bergens Tidende. She thinks it’s a bad idea for institutions to create a podcast just for the sake of having one. – It is important to get your bearings before driving. There has been a lot of competition in the market, says Bøhagen. BT podcast reviewer, Heidi Bøhagen. She says there are many bad podcasts. The reason for this, she believes, is that people and institutions do not know enough about what the podcast should actually look like. Photo: Helge Skodvin She thinks there are a few podcasts today. At the same time, she says it is understandable, as podcasts have exploded in popularity. That may have led to pressure, she believes. – If everyone has their own podcast, perhaps institutions and companies think that they must have one too, says the reviewer. – Fooled by the institutions Acast is one of the largest podcast companies in the world. This year they have had a growth of 21 per cent in the share of Norwegian podcasts on the platform, according to partner manager for Acast Norge, Stine Stangenes-Tellefsen. – I think many companies that make podcasts have understood that it is a very good way to let interested parties get to know their company, product or service. Partner responsible for Acast Norway, Stine Stangenes Tellefsen. She says corporate podcasts can reach a high number of the right people over a long period of time. Even if they don’t have that many listeners. Photo: Acast Crack the code But not all institutions struggle with few listeners. Bertel O. Steen’s “Behind the wheel” has around 4,500 weekly listeners. The Norwegian Armed Forces’ “Our Histories” has 3,000. Stein Pettersen is the presenter of “Bak rattet”. He believes it has become popular primarily because almost everyone has a relationship with cars. – We have not placed any restrictions on which cars the guests have talked about. There are many competing car brands that have received at least as much exposure as our own, he says. For his part, the team leader for podcasts in the Armed Forces believes that “Our Stories” has become popular for several reasons. The “Our Stories” podcast tells stories about people who are on the front lines to protect our national security. – It’s about the power of the stories, the credibility of the sources and exclusive insight into spaces that have historically been kept quite closed, says Ragnhild Fjellro. Furthermore, she says that they are a good match for the target group, personal commitment, drive of content producers and the uniqueness of the podcast medium. – Positively The chairman of the Norwegian Podcast Association, Lina Tandberg, agrees with Stangenes-Tellefesen in Acast. – I think it is very positive that state bodies and the public sector in general use the audio format on an equal basis with the rest, says Tandberg. Chairman of the Norwegian Podcast Association, Lina Tandberg. Photo: Johnny Vaet Nordskog She says that the information from the institutions is made available on several surfaces, which means that more people can get involved in the theme, Not just humour. The group of friends from Haugesund has an average of 80 listeners per episode. They love to continue with podcasts and have their plans ready for future topics: – We want to talk about men’s mental health, because there has been a lot of focus on it in the media lately, they say.
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More and more podcasts. But the institutional podcasts are not very popular – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
