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Indian Podcast Consumption Rising Because of the Coronavirus
In India, people are increasing the amount of time they spend listening to podcasts. Major Indian podcasting companies like Gaana Podcasts and Aawaz.com have seen double to triple digit growth in listeners over the first half of 2020. With new increases in time spent on digital entertainment due to the coronavirus, the podcasting industry is one of the main beneficiaries. With a lot of local video production paused by the coronavirus, this also gives Indians another reason to listen to podcasts.
This behaviour mimics similar trends we are seeing in the West. Time spent listening to podcasts has been steadily increasing over the last five years and the trend has continued through the coronavirus. As podcasting gets bigger, so does the commercial opportunity. More advertisers are looking to podcasts as a marketing channel to reach new audiences and Indian consumers can provide one of the world’s biggest audiences.
Donald Trump’s New Target Might Be Ant Group
Ant Group, the Chinese tech company spun out of Alibaba, is planning an IPO later this year that would value the company at around $250 Billion. That would be the biggest IPO of all time and is going to take place as a dual listing in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. Given US-China tensions, some American politicians are looking to impose new regulations on Ant Group. Donald Trump is reportedly exploring sanctions against Ant and its payments app Alipay. US Senator Marco Rubio has also proposed measures to delay Ant’s IPO.
Ant Group is a Chinese company that will be listing on stock exchanges in Chinese locations and the overwhelming majority of their customers are Chinese. Compared to TikTok’s huge international userbase, it’s less clear how the US can affect the outcome of Ant Group. I don’t think the US government will be able to create any major hurdle for Ant Group right now, but it might send a message of caution for any large Chinese tech company looking to do business in America.
NBA Finals Finally Gets CCTV Broadcast in China
Ever since the general manager of the Houston Rockets Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests in October 2019, the NBA has faced increased scrutiny by the Chinese government and public backlash from segments of the Chinese population. Since then, CCTV (China’s state broadcaster) has not shown a single NBA game in the country. However, CCTV has finally decided to start airing NBA games again, starting with Game 5 of the NBA Finals last weekend.
I’m often optimistic about the ability of culture and entertainment to overcome politics. The NBA has made major efforts to repair their relationship with the Chinese government and Chinese people. Of course, not everyone hated the NBA because of Daryl Morey’s comments, but the negative PR in China was big enough to cause a major blow to the sports organisation. Moving forward, this move by the CCTV indicates that the NBA should be on good footing to do business within their biggest international market. At the end of the day, I think people on all sides of the issue can put aside their differences, even just temporarily, in order to unite over their common love for basketball.
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