Maria Fitó Carreras, an expert in branded content for radio and podcasting, hopes that the association will continue to grow and encompass more representatives from the sector. “It is open to anyone associated with the industry. The world of podcasting is still very young and is becoming increasingly professional,” asserts the researcher.

Given the developments within the sector, Maria Fitó casts the spotlight on videopodcasts, a format on the rise across various platforms. “For decades, radio dominated spoken audio until the arrival of podcasting, which has evolved very quickly. In recent years, we have seen many podcasts add a video component, allowing audiences to view the visual presentation of the audio narrative, whether in native podcasts or radio programmes. Why? Because adding visuals to the audio makes the product easier to monetise and promote on social media, making it particularly appealing to Generation Z, a highly visual audience,” explains the lecturer.

As Fitó argued in a recent article published in the newspaper La Vanguardia, “videopodcasts have opened up revenue opportunities for both content creators and the platforms themselves.” According to Fitó, this audiovisual scenario “moves us away from audio, as it conveys additional information that listeners who only hear the podcast miss out on.” In defence of the audio format, the researcher points out that “the magic of audio lies in the absence of images, requiring listeners to draw a mental picture of everything they hear.” “When the information is already decoded and presented through a visually constructed narrative, there is little room for imagination,” she argues.

“This phenomenon illustrates the media convergence culture foreseen by Henry Jenkins in 2006, who predicted that formats would gradually blur over time: radios producing videos, TV channels creating podcasts, digital news outlets generating audiovisual content, and so on,” she contends. According to Fitó, the key is not the medium or the format, but the narrative. “It will be up to each user to decide how and on which device they choose to engage with it: watching, reading or listening.”

A return to traditional formulas

Within the context of World Radio Day, 13 February, Maria Fitó draws attention to the paradox that, even as the industry innovates, it is also returning to classic radio formulas. “The first radio programmes were produced in theatres. We’re seeing a return to live settings, with videopodcasts filling venues with enthusiastic audiences who pay to attend the recordings. This connection with the audience, possible thanks to the immediacy of live performance, is very difficult to replicate through video,” she explains. “Paradoxically, the same show can later be experienced as a podcast or videopodcast,” she notes.

Stored voices for content creation

Given the developments within the sector and the emergence of the Radio Academy as a network for visibility and representation, the audio professional states that the rise of AI has forced voice artists to “reinvent themselves”. “AI has been trained at an extremely fast pace. There are podcasts in which two artificial intelligences hold a conversation, and unless you’re an expert, it’s impossible to tell the difference. This raises concerns,” she confesses.

Voice artists – understood as professionals who lend their voices to adverts, radio spots or corporate videos – are facing an uncertain future in light of AI-generated voices created with generative software. “Many dubbing studios already have stored voices, and the voice actors earn royalties each time their voice is used. While there are regulations to protect voice owners from misuse, voices can still be used without consent – something that has already occurred on more than one occasion,” explains the UIC Barcelona lecturer.

In the context of the ongoing development of generative AI, Maria Fitó is confident in the ability of professionals to adapt to technological progress. “I think that in the future, as AI takes over audiovisual content production, people will appreciate craft-made productions and look for the imperfections inherent in human creation,” she concludes.