In the Spanish communications landscape, similarly to the international one, podcasts are seen as a lifesaver for future journalists and companies of the sector, since they are going through a deep economic and identity crisis in these times of social media and citizen journalism everywhere. These new audio programmes, characterised by their transmission and reception through the internet, have a significant public success, especially among young people, a group that, in addition, does not use traditional journalistic products, whether on paper, on TV, or on the radio.
 By this emerging phenomenon, we would like to approach to a production market that is seemingly evolving. This market has a strong offering, although it is also quite fragmented, with innumerable programmes that are very different in its conception, budget, and production. Those programmes can fit in the complex definition of the term “podcast”. The analysis and cataloguing of all these products is the first step to study a media situation that deserves researchers’ attention.
Podcasts have experienced a fast and effective expansion. They have become a global phenomenon in a short time. The operation is simple: you only need to download the media file (with added text, a still image, and links) directly from the website or with an aggregator programme that allows users to subscribe through social media in order to listen to the audio whenever the user prefers.
Podcasting represents the first real innovation with regard to the transformation of the radio in relation with the Internet. Previous developments like “streaming” or radio on demand changed the way of understanding the audio contents distribution, although not as radical. The most important communication companies in the world, like Comcast, Washington Post, New York Times, BBC, or News Corporation, have supported the new format, which has experienced an incredible evolution. Back in 2005, Steve Jobs already addressed the capacity of audio programmes to become news coverage, entertainment, and access to the culture.
Their success is also related to the “streaming” platforms expansion. If the ones that are dedicated to audiovisual have revolutionised the way to access films and documentaries, the ones that are exclusively focused on audio have found a potential niche, with a quite easier and cheaper production. There are multiple platforms for its consumption, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, and Amazon Music, that compete for the user’s attention, with paid services or free access for the first time. Among the contents that these platforms offer, besides the musical content, there are these so-called podcasts, that appear as fictional stories and as several journalistic formats.
This phenomenon is produced at the same time within a context in which the communications landscape, both in Spain and internationally, is involved in a situation of change and adaptation, which causes that journalists experience an unprecedented crisis in the history of civilisation. 80 % of freelance journalists are in a “very delicate” situation due to the crisis, a circumstance that they already endured before coronavirus, and that it has worsened by now. Six out of ten journalists are facing a loss of more than a 40 % of their monthly income, and two out of ten are facing a loss between the 20 % and 40 %. This is shown in a survey conducted by the Unió de Periodistes Valencians (Valencian Journalists Union), carried out from 5 to 17 May 2021, in order to study how the pandemic affected the economic and employment situation.
The crisis affects the employees of this sector, but it goes beyond that. It is also related to the crisis of journalistic contents and values, which has partially caused the appearance of social media in the “Habermasian” public sphere. To overcome this crisis, is necessary to provide innovative solutions.