Audio Reading: Transforming Digital Content in India and Beyond

In order to analyze the implications of audio reading in India, it is important to first examine the global scenario. The world is listening more and more, with audio content consumption rising across all platforms.

Edison Research’s “The Infinite Dial 2022” reveals that 62% of the American population of the age of 12+ listens to online audio on a weekly basis. This is up from 33 percent a decade ago, which shows the extent of the change. Podcast consumption has also increased at a faster rate; the monthly podcast listeners in the U. S. increased from 21% in 2016 to 41% in 2021.

The causes behind this increase are many and complex. The advancement in technology especially in the use of smartphones and smart speakers has made audio content more convenient. The other factor is the multitasking culture where people are now able to consume content while doing other activities such as traveling, exercising, or doing chores.

India's Unique Audio Landscape

The global trends are significant, and the Indian audio content market is gradually building its own trajectory based on the cultural and linguistic heterogeneity of the country.

India's audiobook revenues are estimated to reach $355 million in 2024 and are projected to hit $585 million by 2029. This growth is fueled by several factors:

1. Smartphone Penetration: India had more than 500 million smartphone users in 2020 and the figure is expected to rise to 820 million in 2022.
   
   
2. Affordable Data: The availability of cheap 4G data plans has made streaming of audio content possible for millions of people in India.
   
   
3. Linguistic Diversity: India has 22 official languages and more than 500 dialects, which makes the need for localized audio content a necessity.

This has led to the creation of audio platforms that are specific to India due to the uniqueness of the country’s geography. Betting on digital music streaming, applications such as Gaana, JioSaavn, and Wynk Music have grown exponentially; But it is not only music; applications that are dedicated to reading are also becoming more popular.

Pocket FM, an audio streaming platform for Hindi audio stories and podcasts, recently closed $103 million in Series D in March 2024 which shows investors’ interest in this segment. Khabri, which is an application for audio content in Indian regional languages has also shown a lot of growth, particularly in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Breaking Down Barriers: The Accessibility Imperative

Perhaps one of the strongest cases for audio reading is the ability to enhance content access significantly especially in a country like India.

There are about 62 million people with visual impairment in India. This is not just a statistic, it is millions of people who could greatly benefit from audio versions of what is usually written.

However visual impairment is only one of the factors that define accessibility. The literacy rate in India has been on the rise and was approximately 74% in 2011 as per the census. This is to mean that about 300 million Indians have some form of difficulty in comprehending written content.

Audio reading might be a revolution for these populations. With the help of turning the written blog posts into the audio format, the bloggers could potentially address hundreds of millions of people who were previously excluded from their reach.

In addition, audio content could be very useful in the process of education and skills acquisition. A recent survey by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018 revealed that only 44% of rural Indian children in grade 5 could read a grade 2 level text. It is possible that audio blogs might be useful in offering an alternative way of getting information to these children and other adults who have difficulties in reading.

The Language Learning Angle

Having multiple languages in India is a problem and a boon for content creators at the same time. As millions of Indians learn English or other languages, audio blogs can also be effective language-learning aids.

Study showed that there is a positive correlation between the amount of spoken language to which an individual is exposed and the language learning gains, especially in the areas of pronunciation and intonation for a second language. Audio blogs especially those that post content in several languages could be useful to the learners in that they get to listen to native speakers.

Suppose, a blog post is written in text format in different Indian languages and there are audio files in the same languages. This way, users could read along while listening and therefore enhance their reading and listening comprehension at the same time.

The SEO Advantage: Audio as a Ranking Booster

To bloggers and marketers, this is a golden opportunity to tap into the SEO benefits that audio reading has to offer. While Google hasn't explicitly stated that audio content directly improves rankings, several factors suggest it could have a positive impact: While Google hasn't explicitly stated that audio content directly improves rankings, several factors suggest it could have a positive impact:

Increased Dwell Time: Audio content can also help to keep users on a page for a longer period of time, which can help to decrease bounce rates and increase time on site – both of which are good things for search engines to see.

Rich Media Bonus: Most search engines have a preference for pages that contain a variety of media formats. It will be possible to enhance the density of a page by including audio in the text content.

Accessibility Signals: Since, search engines are gradually placing emphasis on accessibility, the presence of audio versions of content might be sending positive signals to the search engines about the site’s compliance with accessibility standards.

Additional Keyword Opportunities: Audio transcripts make more text available for search engines to crawl, which may enhance a page’s relevance for long-tail keywords.

According to Backlinko, the pages with audio scored 36% higher in the Google search than the pages without audio. Although correlation does not necessarily imply causation, it is a fact that content strategists can find interesting.

SEO could have even more profound effects in the Indian context. If the websites were to provide content in multiple Indian languages, be it in text or audio form, websites could actually target a lot more keywords in various Indian language markets.

The Role of Advanced Text-to-Speech Technology

The increasing use of audio reading is not only about its practicality but also about the expansion of content accessibility and interest. And in India, where there are so many languages, the requirement of an apt TTS system which can support many languages is paramount. This is where Gan.AI’s Myna-Mini, comes into play.

Myna-Mini is the only TTS system which supports 22 Indic languages along with English. This capability is a game-changer for content creators in India who wish to target the population in their local languages. In contrast to other systems that fail in handling the issues of regional accents and code-switching, Myna-Mini produces natural and realistic speech that is appealing to listeners with different language preferences.

What makes Myna-Mini particularly interesting is that it equalizes content consumption. Myna-Mini helps to read Hindi, Tamil, or Bengali blog posts, for example, and turn the text into an audiobook so that the content can reach those who listen or those who have a reading disability.

The Future of Audio Content in India

1. Voice Search Growth: Google reveals that 27% of the total internet users use voice search on mobile devices. In India, where there are many languages spoken, voice search in regional languages is expected to increase rapidly.
   
   
2. Smart Speaker Adoption: Smart speakers are still a relatively new market in India but they are steadily finding their place. According to IDC, smart home devices such as speakers will continue to grow at a healthy rate globally.
   
   
3. 5G Rollout: The current 5G deployment in India will continue to bring down the hurdles to streaming quality audio content including in the rural regions.
   
   
4. AI and Personalization: AI developments may result in better personalized audio content, which may be adapted to the user’s preference, language, and learning abilities.
   
   
5. Interactive Audio Content: The future might witness more of interactive audio content through which the listeners can interact with the content through voice commands.

The Sound of the Future

As we are on the verge of this audio revolution, it is evident that the possibilities of changing the digital content scenario, especially in the Indian context, are enormous. audio reading, therefore, creates a new world of opportunities ranging from making content more accessible and improving SEO to facilitating language acquisition and delivering content in a more personalized manner.

For content creators, marketers, and businesses that are active in the Indian digital environment, it is high time to begin thinking about how audio can be incorporated into content plans. It’s not about following the trend; it’s about being ready for the future where text, audio, and video content will be interconnected.

Given the current and future state of the digital ecosystem in India, those who can harness the power of audio content can have a competitive edge. audio reading is not only a new trend in a country that is famous for its oral culture and language diversity, but it is also a way to come back to the roots using the latest technologies.

The future of content is not just about being viewed or read; it’s about being listened to. And in India, that future seems to be bright indeed.