English-language shows have always dominated in podcasting due to the history of the format, but other languages are on the rise, fuelled by a mixture of population growth, technological advancements and possibly even war.
As the total number of podcasts continues to grow (we predict 23% year-over-year growth in 2023) we thought it would be interesting to investigate which languages are changing the most.
One language that had a sharp positive trajectory over the past five years now finds itself trailing behind. Let's dive in!
All of this data is sourced from Rephonic's comprehensive podcast database. We used the total number of podcasts from the end of each year to calculate growth rates and we calculated 2023 figures by taking current figures and extrapolating them slightly.
TL:DR;
- Indonesian was the fastest-growing podcast language over the past five years
- Ukrainian is the fastest-growing language in 2023
- Podcasts in Vietnamese look set for sustained and rapid growth
- Indonesian has the second-lowest growth rate in 2023 and the lowest proportion of active podcasts
🇮🇩 Indonesian was the fastest-growing podcast language over the past five years
We began by looking at which podcast languages have shown the most significant growth since the end of 2018. We included languages that constituted at least 0.1% of the total number of podcasts in at the end of 2018, and the results are striking.
Indonesian emerged as the uncontested front-runner, growing by over 10,000% in the last five years, with Portuguese ranking a distant second.
The number of Indonesian podcasts grew from only 1,459 at the end of 2018 to an expected 155,000 by the end of 2023. Unsurprisingly, this rapid expansion was most pronounced in 2020 and 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic led many to experiment with podcasting.
But why did Indonesian grow so much faster than other languages?
As Podnews reported, Indonesia experienced a technology boom in the 2010s, marked by widespread adoption of smartphones and the birth of several unicorn start-ups.
A key moment for Indonesian podcasting came in 2019 when Deddy Corbuzier, referred to by Podnews as "the Joe Rogan of Indonesia", started his talk show. Even though it was first and foremost a YouTube show, Corbuzier's influential status and labeling of his show as a podcast likely played a significant role in inspiring others to start their own podcast.
🇺🇦 Ukrainian is the fastest-growing podcast language in 2023 so far
We then looked at the fastest-growing podcast languages in 2023 and found that Ukrainian took first place with a 50% increase, closely followed by Hebrew.
We speculate that this significant growth in Ukrainian-language podcasts could be attributed to many people in the country purposefully switching from Russian to Ukrainian, spurred by the ongoing war.
"A huge number of Ukrainians including me switched to the Ukrainian language. And a lot of new podcasts appeared too. Previously I knew literally none, now I continuously listen to several and see more of them appearing." - Daria, Ukrainian Software Engineer
🇻🇳 Vietnamese-language podcasts look set for sustained and rapid growth
After identifying the fastest-growing podcast languages in 2023, we looked at their trajectories over the past few years. The pandemic had little effect on the trajectory of most of these languages. However, Vietnamese stood out as an exception, showing a small bump in the number of new podcasts during this time [1].
The rise of Vietnamese as one of the top three fastest-growing podcast languages in 2023 could be explained by the country’s ongoing economic boom.
In 2022, Vietnam was the fastest-growing economy in Asia, and its digital sector is projected to be one of the most rapidly expanding over the next few years.
However, strict media regulations and a preference for audiobooks are likely hampering podcasting's growth potential. If these barriers are overcome, Vietnam could become a major podcasting hub, given that 70% of its population is under 35 and generally tech-savvy.
📉 Indonesian podcast growth is slowing down
We then looked at the podcast languages that grew the least in 2023 and found that Indonesian ranked second-slowest, behind Nepali.
So, what happened to podcasts in Indonesia? Perhaps it could be partly expained by the fact that Rephonic's data primarily comes from the Apple Podcasts index.
Auto-submissions to Apple Podcasts stopped in mid-2021, but this is probably only part of the story. Interestingly, the publishing frequency of Corbuzier's 'Close the Door' on Apple Podcasts has been gradually decreasing, and there hasn't been a new episode on the platform since June 7th, 2023, despite the show being active on YouTube. It could be that this move back to YouTube is a trend.
Another theory is that Spotify has become more dominant in the Indonesian market than in other markets, so fewer podcasters feel the need to put their show on Apple Podcasts. Looking at the Spotify charts for Indonesia, five of the top ten podcasts are Spotify exclusives, whereas this figure is two in the US, UK, and Canada (true at the time of writing).
⬇️ Indonesian also has the lowest proportion of active podcasts
Finally, we looked at the proportion of active podcasts by language. Unsurprisingly, Indonesian has the lowest proportion of active podcasts at just 1.4%. This figure stands well below the average of 13%.
A brief review of inactive Indonesian podcasts reveals that a significant number of them are hosted on Anchor and consist of one or two episodes. This suggests that these podcasts may have been tests and possibly not intended for public release.
Final thoughts
The reason for the slowdown in Indonesian podcast growth is still unclear, but it’s important to note that Indonesian remains one of the most popular podcast languages.
In actual numbers, it ranks fifth in 2023, behind English, Spanish, Portuguese and German. In contrast, given that there are a significant number of languages with very few podcasts, it will be interesting to see if and when they start to take off.
Rephonic is a database of over two million podcasts that makes it easy for brands, agencies and podcasters to discover shows in their niche and make better decisions about which ones to get featured on. Get started for free and access listener numbers, chart rankings, contact info and lots more.
