GENRES, FORMATS, AND ACTORS IN THE ORIGINAL PODCAST PRODUCTION IN SPAIN, ARGENTINA, COLOMBIA AND CHILE

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Abstract

In a context of growing global penetration of spoken audio in the digital leisure and entertainment menu, this article analyses the original production of podcast in 2024 in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile with the aim of assessing the state of the market, identifying the main trends in the design and development of genres and formats, and describing the role of the different players in the industry. The study applies a mixed methodological design: it collects documentary evidence on all titles released by platforms, production companies, radio stations, other media, and independent creators. Based on a corpus of 1,572 titles from 265 organizations, a matrix of 15 variables is used to conduct a descriptive analysis of the origin, topics, genres, formats, and lengths of the podcast. The results show a strong concentration of supply in production companies and the media; a clear predominance of the conversational macro-genre and the themes of culture, journalism, and leisure; as well as significant differences in production load and the relative weight of fiction and non-fiction between countries. This presents an innovative comparative overview of podcasting in Spanish, allowing for the identification of common patterns, structural imbalances, and opportunities for creative and commercial development.