DJ Fresh’s podcast – WAW: What A Week – has been welcomed with open arms and is racking up pundits proving that the medium is very much alive and kicking on the continent, and will possibly buck the trend predicted by Statista in January this year.

In its Advertising & Media Market Insights report, Statista said that podcasts were ‘fuelling digital audio’s fading revenue growth’, and published a graph showing that showed that podcasts grew revenue by 47.5% in 2021 but this is expected to drop to just 5.1% in 2027.

According to in_Broadcasting head Jon Savage, the first episode of WAW attracted 100 000 viewers, it garnered 10 000 subscribers on YouTube within the first 5 days of its release, is currently knocking on 18 000 YouTube subscribers, charts on the South Africa podcast charts every week and is the fastest-growing podcast across YouTube, Spotify and Apple.

“DJ Fresh’s performance over the last two months has been impressive, and fuels my belief that Statista’s data does not mean that podcasts as a whole are losing their appeal. In fact, the number of people listening to podcasts is still on the rise, and podcasting is becoming even more valuable for marketers than ever before,” he said.

DJ Fresh’s WAW, the first to be launched by the Africa Podcast Network, features a new episode each week on YouTube, while the audio version is available on Spotify, Apple and other podcast platforms.

“I see so much opportunity growing out of this space,” added Savage. “While the recent downturn in ad revenue in the podcasting space might be seen as concerning, it is important to remember that podcasts are still a valuable and untapped market for advertisers.

“By partnering with podcast hosts and sponsoring episodes, brands can create content that educates listeners about their products or services while also building trust and loyalty. This type of content marketing is much more effective than traditional advertising, and can have a significant impact on brand awareness and customer engagement.”