Five years ago, if you told an Indian brand to advertise on a podcast, they would have looked at you strangely. "Podcasts? Isn't that an American thing?"
But not anymore.
Today, some of India's most popular voices are not on TV or radio. They are on Spotify, YouTube, and other apps, talking to millions of people every week.
The Indian podcast market has grown faster. People are listening to shows about money, business, comedy, true crime, and more. These listeners are loyal and pay close attention, and this is something every brand wants.
Think about it this way: a Reel gets watched for two seconds before someone scrolls past. A podcast listener sticks around for 30, 60, or even 90 minutes at a time. They pick a show, hit play, and stay with it during traffic, during a workout, and on the way home from work.
Hence, this blog explains why podcast advertising is one of the most exciting ways for brands to reach people in India right now and why most brands still aren't using it.
How Did Podcasting Grow in India?
Before the pandemic, podcasts weren't actually a thing. Before 2020, only a few people listened, mostly in cities, mostly in English.
Brands barely paid attention to it.
Around 2019, there were about 57-58 million monthly listeners, decent but small compared to TV or radio. PWC REPORT
The lockdown changed everything. When COVID hit and people stayed home, podcast listening shot up. People who used to listen during their commute now listened while working from home, doing chores, or just passing the time. By 2023, India had about 95 million monthly listeners.
Then things grew even faster between 2024 and 2025; the number of listeners nearly doubled, crossing 200 million. Astute Analytics
That makes India the third-biggest podcast market in the world, after China and the US.
Spotify, JioSaavn, and YouTube made it mainstream. Three platforms pushed podcasts into the mainstream. Spotify made it easy to find shows and invested in regional-language content. JioSaavn, backed by Jio's data, brought podcasts to a much wider audience beyond just big cities. YouTube, almost without planning to, became India's biggest podcast platform because Indians love watching long video interviews, and many call those "podcasts" too.
Big names made podcasts popular.
Nikhil Kamath brought serious business and policy talk to a huge audience.
Ranveer Allahbadia (BeerBiceps) built one of India's biggest audiences around fitness, business, and self-improvement.
Raj Shamani became known for startup and entrepreneurship content.
Neha Dhupia brought celebrity podcasts into the mainstream. These hosts proved a podcast could reach as many people as TV and sometimes more.
How big is the market now?
Estimates put the Indian podcast market somewhere between $0.5 billion and $1 billion in 2024, with predictions of $2.5 to $4.5 billion by 2030. No matter which number you trust, the trend is clear: this is one of the fastest-growing media spaces in India.
Who is listening?
Most listeners are young. The average age is around 20-21, and Gen Z is the biggest group. The core audience is urban professionals, college students, and people who commute daily. More people in smaller towns are also joining now, especially as platforms add more Hindi and regional-language shows.
Why Are Podcast Audiences Different?
People choose to listen, and they aren't just scrolling. This is the biggest difference. A podcast listener picks a show on purpose and gives it real attention. Compare that to a Reel, where people scroll past in a couple of seconds unless something grabs them instantly. Podcasts don't need to win you over in two seconds; they earn your attention episode after episode.
Longer listening time beats short scroll time. A podcast episode usually runs 30 minutes to over an hour, and people often finish the whole thing. That means any brand message inside the episode actually gets heard, not just glanced at.
They follow a host. They come back every week, month after month, sometimes for years. It becomes more like a friendship than a usual scroll. This loyalty is why podcast hosts are some of the most trusted voices in Indian media today.
The host-listener relationship builds up over time; when a host recommends something, it doesn't feel like an ad. It feels like a friend telling you about something they actually use. That's why ads read by the host themselves usually work better than other types of ads.
When and where do people listen?
A lot of listening happens during commutes in India's traffic-heavy cities, plus during workouts, chores, and before bed. These are moments when watching a video isn't an option, but listening fits in naturally, which means the ad reaches someone who's actually paying attention.
Podcast listeners tend to be educated and urban and have higher incomes, exactly the kind of people that finance, edtech, B2B, and premium consumer brands want to reach.
Which Brands Are Already Winning on Indian Podcasts?
Finance and Investment Brands
Fintech companies were some of the first to jump into podcast ads in India. Zerodha, Groww, and CoinDCX have all sponsored finance and business podcasts. It makes sense; people who listen to podcasts about money are usually already curious about investing and willing to listen to detailed explanations.
EdTech Brands
Brands like Unacademy and upGrad use podcast sponsorships to reach the same ambitious, self-improvement crowd that listens to business and career shows. Since picking a course or a career path is a big decision, the trust built by long-form podcast content fits perfectly.
D2C and Consumer Brands
More direct-to-consumer brands, especially in wellness, nutrition, and personal care, are sponsoring podcasts not to get instant sales but to build awareness and trust. When a host personally talks about a product, it works like both an ad and a personal recommendation.
Conclusion
Podcast advertising in India isn't a small experiment anymore; it's a real and growing way for brands to reach people. The brands that get in early will build relationships with hosts and their audiences before it gets crowded and expensive.
In a world where everyone is fighting for attention, podcast listeners are some of the most valuable people a brand can reach. If your brand wants to explore this space, the right partner makes a big difference, and Grynow, the best influencer marketing company, with a creator network of 1.5M influencers and after having worked with 3500+ brands, knows how to do it with proven results.
