By Koketso Mamabolo
The Topco and Top Women Business Unusual podcasts feature thought leaders with years of experience creating solutions to challenges they’ve faced in their sectors. Guests share how they went about solving problems and discuss ideas in a conversation that is as informative as it is natural. Starting when COVID-19 lockdowns reached South African shores, the podcasts have seen a whole host of guests sharing their knowledge with a diverse audience and are shared with subscribers in the Topco weekly newsletters.
There was no way that the originators of podcasts could’ve known that sixteen years later their idea would spawn a phenomena which would begin when millions of people around the world suddenly found themselves stuck at home. Once authorities around the world made the decision to limit movement as much as possible, many had to find ways to entertain themselves.
In the last nine years podcasts have gone through two major shifts. The first came in 2014 when the Serial true-crime series went viral and inspired people from all over the world to start exploring the format. This wave included new listeners and creators. The second shift happened recently, and looks to continue as we go through a transformation process which futurist John Sanei has described as going from sadness, to strangeness and finally reaching the adventurous.
This second wave of listeners and creators was sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether they were self-isolating, forced to stay at home or merely looking for new ways to create content and engage with an audience, the growth in the number of people listening to, and creating, podcasts has swelled in the past two years.