Podcasting and Traditional Radio in Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis
Abstract
The convergence of digital technology and audio media has fundamentally altered how Nigerian audiences’ access, consume, and interact with broadcast content. Traditional radio, which has served as the dominant mass communication channel in Nigeria for over seven decades, now shares its audience with an expanding podcasting ecosystem shaped by mobile internet diffusion and platform diversification. This study comparatively analyses podcasting and traditional radio in Nigeria across two primary dimensions: audience engagement patterns and content delivery models. Adopting a mixed-methods secondary comparative design, the study draws on peer- reviewed literature, institutional data from the National Broadcasting Commission, Edison Research datasets, and platform-level analytics. The theoretical framework integrates Uses and Gratifications Theory and Media Convergence Theory to explain listener motivation and structural transformation. Findings reveal that podcasting attracts younger, urban, and formally educated audiences who demonstrate deeper per-session engagement, while traditional radio retains mass reach, rural penetration, and civic communication functions that digital audio cannot yet replicate at equivalent scale. Content delivery analysis shows that podcasting enables format flexibility and global asynchronous distribution, whereas radio operates within regulatory, spectral, and scheduling constraints that, paradoxically, also produce communal value. The study concludes that the two media occupy complementary rather than competitive positions within the Nigerian audio ecology and recommends policy frameworks that treat both as strategically distinct channels.
Keywords
podcastingtraditional radiocontent deliverymedia convergenceNigeria
References
Bello, A., & Dayo, F. (2023). Digital audio and community radio in Nigeria: Complementary or competitive? West African Communication Review, 5(1), 44-59. https://doi.org/10.31920/2752-0846/2023/v5n1a3 Berry, R. (2023). Podcasting: The audio medium in the digital age. Bloomsbury Academic. Biewen, J., & Dilworth, A. (Eds.). (2022). Reality radio: Telling true stories in sound (3rd ed.). University of North Carolina Press. Bonini, T. (2022). The second age of podcasting: Reframing podcasting as a new digital mass medium. Quaderns del CAC, 22(41), 21-30. https://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q41_Bonini_EN.pdf Bonini, T., & Gandini, A. (2022). 'First week is editorial, second week is commercial': The platformization of music curation. Social Media + Society, 8(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221086985 Bottomley, A. J. (2020). Podcasting: A decade of cultural disruption. In D. Llinares, N. Fox, & R. Berry (Eds.), Podcasting: New aural cultures and digital media (pp. 53-64). Palgrave Macmillan. Boulos, M. N. K., Haywood, R., & Taylor-Clarke, K. (2022). Health radio and podcasting: A comparative analysis of audience engagement in public health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(3), e33117. https://doi.org/10.2196/33117 Braun, J. A. (2022). Platform power and the governance of audio media. Information, Communication & Society, 25(10), 1491-1507. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1873518 Chu, Z., & Lee, Y. (2021). Talk radio vs. podcasts: Exploring differences in political content and audience engagement. Political Communication, 38(5), 604-622. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2021.1888457 Cridland, J. (2022). Podland: The state of global podcasting 2022. Podnews Annual Report. https://podnews.net/article/global-report-2022 Crisell, A. (2021). An introductory history of British broadcasting (3rd ed.). Routledge. Datta, H., Knox, G., & Bronnenberg, B. J. (2022). Changing their tune: How consumers' adoption of online streaming affects music consumption and discovery. Marketing Science, 39(1), 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2019.1201 Edison Research. (2023). The Infinite Dial 2023. Edison Research. https://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2023/ Fox, J., Park, B., & Lang, A. (2021). When available resources are not enough: Reduced attention in podcasting versus broadcast radio. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 65(2), 215-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2021.1906470 Gill, R. (2021). Academics and public engagement: Podcasting as scholarly communication. Higher Education Research & Development, 40(4), 720-734. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1804521 Hancock, B. H., & McMurtrie, B. (2022). Broadcast standards and the challenge of podcast journalism ethics. Journalism Practice, 16(9), 1845-1862. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1923677 Hendy, D. (2020). Radio in the global age. Media, Culture & Society, 42(4), 512-528. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720918756 Hilmes, M. (2021). Only connect: A cultural history of broadcasting in the United States (4th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing. E-ISSN 2545-529x Hovland, R., & White, A. B. (2023). Radio advertising in the age of podcasts: Audience measurement challenges and cross-platform metrics. Journal of Advertising Research, 63(1), 55-70. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2022-025 Jenkins, H. (2021). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide (Updated ed.). New York University Press. Kang, M., & Kim, Y. (2022). Podcast vs. radio in crisis communication: Listener trust and information processing differences. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 99(2), 512-531. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211028791 Laffan, D. A. (2021). Radio for company? Examining the social uses of radio listening and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Radio Studies, 28(1), 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2020.1856148 Lijphart, A. (2021). The comparative method: Comparative politics and the comparative method revisited. PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(3), 401-408. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521000226 Lindgren, M. (2022). Intimacy and authenticity in podcast journalism. Journalism Practice, 16(7), 1260-1277. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1886416 Llinares, D., Fox, N., & Berry, R. (Eds.). (2023). Podcasting: New aural cultures and digital media. Palgrave Macmillan. Markman, K. M. (2021). 'Doing radio' in the age of the podcast: The persistence of radio- making cultures in audio content production. Journal of Radio Studies, 28(2), 219-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2020.1770753 McClung, S., & Johnson, K. (2022). Examining the motives of podcast listeners. Journal of Radio Studies, 29(1), 21-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2021.1929855 Moyo, L. (2021). Radio resilience in Africa: Between digital disruption and analogue endurance. African Journalism Studies, 42(1), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2020.1817476 Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Robertson, C. T., Eddy, K., & Nielsen, R. K. (2023). Reuters Institute digital news report 2023. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2023 Nielsen Audio. (2022). State of the media: Audio today 2022. The Nielsen Company. https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2022/audio-today-2022/ Nwachukwu, C. (2022). Regulatory challenges for digital audio media in Nigeria: Between the NBC Act and emerging podcast content. Journal of African Media Studies, 14(2), 201- 218. https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00072_1 Ofcom. (2023). Annual communications market report 2023. Office of Communications. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/telecoms-research/data-updates/cmr-2023 Perks, L. G., & Turner, J. S. (2021). Podcasts and productivity: A qualitative uses and gratifications study. Mass Communication and Society, 22(1), 96-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2018.1490434 Popay, J., Roberts, H., Sowden, A., Petticrew, M., Arai, L., Rodgers, M., & Britten, N. (2020). Guidance on the conduct of narrative synthesis in systematic reviews. ESRC Methods Programme. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1018.4643 Priestman, C. (2022). Web radio: Radio production for internet streaming (2nd ed.). Focal Press. Rubin, A. M., Haridakis, P. M., & Eyal, K. (2020). Co-viewing television and parasocial interaction with media personae. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(4), 1010-1028. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699020924011 E-ISSN 2545-529x Ruggiero, T. E. (2020). Uses and gratifications theory in the 21st century: Connections and disconnections in media studies. In R. L. Nabi & M. B. Oliver (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of media processes and effects (pp. 65-82). SAGE Publications. Smethers, J. S., & Goff, D. H. (2022). Radio's relevance in a streaming world: Audiences, habits and the persistence of the medium. Journal of Radio Studies, 29(2), 88-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2021.1979123 Statista. (2024). Number of podcast listeners worldwide from 2019 to 2027. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1291360/podcast-listeners-worldwide/ Sterne, J., Morris, J., Baker, M. B., & Freire, A. M. (2022). The politics of podcasting: Representation, race, and audio labour. New Media & Society, 24(8), 1773-1793. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211055424 Sullivan, J. L. (2023). Media audiences: Effects, users, institutions, and power (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. Vrikki, P., & Malik, S. (2021). Voicing lived-experience and anti-racism: Podcasting as a space at the margins for social action. Popular Communication, 17(4), 273-287. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2019.1622116 Webster, J. G. (2022). The marketplace of attention: How audiences take shape in a digital age (2nd ed.). MIT Press.
More Articles from RESEARCH JOURNAL OF MASS COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Media Ownership Structure and Responsible Journalism: Implications for Media Accountability and Democratic Governance in Nigeria
Author: Nimaa, Tornebari Justice
The Digital Public Sphere in Nigeria: A Review of Politeness, Dissent, and Identity in Online Comment Sections
Author: Ife Ajepe
Crowdsourcing Truths: A Participatory Fact-Checking Tool for Nigerian Citizens on X Platform
Author: Owen, Eric Chukwuemeka, Prof. G. B. Nsereka, Preye Brisibe PhD
Utilization of Public Relations Strategies in Strengthening Examination Integrity in South-South Nigeria
Author: Egwurugwu, Barikuma Chike, Prof. R. N. Amadi, Prof. B. G. Nsereka, S. C. Joe PhD
Influencer Persona as Critical Identity: Construction, Audience Engagement and Sociocultural Implications for Social Media Celebrities in Rivers State
Author: Ihuoma, Ugochi Chukwuka, Prof. F. A. Amadi, Harcourt W. Dike PhD, C. J. Njoku PhD