In the latest PodPod episode, podcast producer Aiwan Obinyan revealed exclusive insights from a survey she started at UK Black Pride 2022 on what queer people of colour would like to see from the podcasting industry.
Obinyan is the founder of audio production company AiAi studios and senior podcast producer at LGBTQ+ media publication Gay Times, a client for which she produced four podcasts including Mediawatch and Snatched!.
Gay Times is also a supporter of AiAi’s first in-house podcast, produced and hosted by Obinyan, titled UK Black Pride: A Time Capsule which interviewed people on-location at the event in August 2022. Alongside creating the podcast series, Obinyan started a survey asking the community what they wanted to listen to and what stories they feel are missing.
Early insights from the survey that Obinyan revealed during the discussion are that the shows they feel are missing include more topics on queerness in Africa, queer POC issues, educational and fun podcasts led by queer and Transgender people, shows for over 40s, and Black queer podcasts.
Additionally, another stat revealed was that 71.6% of queer POC podcast listeners have never bought a product after listening to a podcast advertisement. This is compared to 60% of podcast listeners overall who have bought something listening to a podcast ad as of October 2022 according to Buzzsprout.
“I find that the shows out there tend to be a bit one dimensional,” said Obinyan. “I find that LGBTQ+ people are treated as a monolith sometimes and sometimes I feel like that monolith is built on a white gay man model… and then that’s who we all are.
“And actually, we’re not a monolith and Black and Brown people are a global majority when then if you follow that through, that means Black and Brown people must also be a global majority… So I feel like I would like to see more innovation in that area, more attention being paid to our stories and histories as well.”
Obinyan also revealed that queer POC podcast listeners enjoy listening to Society & Culture as well as Arts & Entertainment genres the most but said that she would like to see more innovation and expansion in the genres from queer POC people.
“I feel like audiences aren't dumb and if something's good, they will open up to it,” added Obinyan. “So let's see more innovation in other genres as well for LGBTQ+ people of colour as well, because you don't know if you will like it until you hear it or if you want it. Taking a chance essentially.”