My Indian Life a podcast for young people, by young people. Podcasts by the BBC World Service in India presented by Medhavi Arora, Producer, BBC World Service, India and Amelia Butterly, Senior producer, BBC World Service, UK. Young Indian audiences like to hear two way conversations with a large amount of interaction. For example MIL has been recorded in front of a live audience and the podcasts were also driven by conversations after the documentary podcasts have gone out. Kalki was chosen as the presenter as she is a champion of important issues to young people. Podcasts involved hours long conversations on sensitive issues and Kalki as a presenter/interviewer is very much able to navigate all of the issues. Local is the key to this podcast as it is recorded locally, content is sources locally and the feel of the podcast is very much local. Local music streaming platforms were used to increase audiences i.e. Book my Show, Sound Cloud and YouTube. For many listeners this was the first time they had listened to a podcast. This is a multi platform podcast and was heavily promoted and marketed for all of the 10 episodes. YouTube was used as this is where the audience is, they audience are also second screening and so this platform made sense. The audience was bigger than anticipated – young, Indian based and it was shown they watched to the end of the video. This is about changing habits and entry points for podcasts. Listeners started to share stories about their lives. My Indian Life was the first stage for the BBC, after this a second podcast was brought out on the MIL ‘Election Special’. A second season of MIL will be coming out in the next couple of months. WorklifeIndia is a weekly talk show which has been made into a podcast, this deals with local topics and looks at the wider issues. The guests on the show are highly varied, the guests give a personal perspective on issues hitting the headlines. This is the first programme that is multi platform on TV, radio podcasts and digital. Audiences are consuming this on different places and we need not to alienate them. WLI is thought of as a conversation between four elements that have to be scripted differently and the audiences are served equally. WLI also goes ‘on the road’ it was important for the BBC to talk to people in different areas about the Indian elections as an example. Talking to people also feeds the content within the show. Discussions that are thought provoking whilst maybe the subject is controversial. A Facebook Live opportunity gave the community something and it built the two-way honest conversation. These videos are something people can continue to engage with. Amelia ended by saying in India you have an engaged young audience but you must meet listeners on platforms they are already using and keep it a two-way conversation with honest and open discussions.
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