Paris (AFP)

Nearly one in ten French listen to at least one podcast called "native" (which is not a rebroadcast broadcast) each week, according to a study published Friday at the occasion of the 2nd edition of the Paris Podcast Festival, demonstrating the increasing use of this new media in full effervescence.

The native or original podcasts dedicated to this festival, which is held from Friday to Sunday at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, are designed from the start for an online broadcast, as opposed to rebroadcasts of radio programs.

While these are still by far the most popular type of podcasts in France, many platforms, studios, media of all kinds and other actors (including brands and institutions) have begun to invest this new creative medium that represents the native podcast.

And they begin to find their audience: according to the very first study devoted exclusively to this phenomenon, conducted by Havas Paris and the CSA Research institute for the festival, 25% of French people aged 18 to 64 have already heard of this phenomenon. new kind of audio programs, and 9% say they listen to it every week, two-thirds of which have been there for less than a year.

Without much surprise, the typical portrait of the fan of native podcasts is that of a rather young listener (58% are under 35 years old), urban (70% live in a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants) and overconsumer of culture: 85% listen "regularly" or "often" FM radio, against 76% of French; 89% use a music streaming service at the same rate against 43% of French people; and 74% read at the same frequency of books, compared to 41% of the population.

In addition, native podcasts are over-connected: 81% of them use Twitter every week, a level well above the average of the French (28%), as well as Instagram (88% versus 43%) or yet Snapchat (76% vs. 30%).

Side uses, the phone is their main listening device (60% against only 2% for connected speakers), and they eat alone (76%).

But in other respects, habits coincide with those of the radio, including favorite listening times (morning and end of day), and the fact that they often listen to podcasts by doing another activity (two thirds of respondents ).

Finally, 71% say they are ready to pay (27% "quite" and 44% possibly) for their favorite native podcasts. An interesting lesson, at a time when producers of podcasts are still looking for their business model (between advertising, subscriptions, partnerships with brands ...).

The survey was conducted online from September 4 to 13 with 1,022 people (including a representative sample of the national population plus an over-sample of people regularly listening to native podcasts).

In addition, eight companies producing podcasts announced Friday the creation of a professional organization, the PIA (for "independent audio producers"). It aims to defend the creators of podcasts and promote a respectful ecosystem, but also develop proposals for creative aids for audio production.

The founding companies are News Listening, Paradiso, Louie Media, Slate Podcasts, Bababam, Plink Studio, Binge Audio and Blackship.

© 2019 AFP