Podcast fans in the Asia Pacific would know: the medium still hasn’t truly caught on with the local audience. While US-based podcast shows do have fans in Asia, the ones produced in the region have yet to attract a mainstream following.
Not that no one’s trying. Open the podcast section of your Spotify account and it will reveal a selection of local and regional shows available for streaming. It may not be as extensive as the ones available for Western audiences, and may not have hundreds of thousands of listeners, still, there are a handful of notable podcasts worth checking out.
Their main selling point? The podcasts’ small audience means their listeners are the niche, valuable market the podcast hosts and their respective guests want to attract. Never mind that their influence is only at the micro level, the producers well know that they are making the right market listen. Below, we list some of the podcasts produced in Asia that anyone from the regional startup scene would want to be featured in.
Analyse Asia
Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast FM, SoundCloud, Luminary, Stitcher
Featured Guests: Former Mozilla CEO John Lilly, LuxAsia Group CEO Wolfgang Baier, Bloomberg Writer, and NYTimes Best-Selling Author Brad Stone, Gary Vaynerchuk
One of the most extensive and in-depth podcasts on the startup scene in the region you can guest in is Analyse Asia, which has been on-air since 2014. It helps that its host, Bernard Leong, has long been a thought leader in the startup space, having founded one of the first digital media platforms that focused on digital businesses in Singapore, SGEntrepreneurs, which was eventually acquired by TechInAsia.
Leong has already featured a long list of startup founders and business leaders from Asia and the US, with the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk and John Lilly dropping a visit in his studio. It has episodes on the regulatory landscape of blockchain technology in Asia, to the rise of “SuperApps.” But the 30-minute show thrives when it talks in detail of the recent news and trends in the region. More than personalities, Leong regularly guests business journalists, from writers of TechinAsia to Slate, to help him discuss recent developments in the space.
It’s one of the best spaces for anyone who wants to showcase their experience and expertise in Asia Pacific’s digital startup scene.
Asia Tech Podcast
Available on: Soundcloud, Spotify, iTunes
Featured Guests: AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, Zalora co-founder Magnus Grimeland
Being featured on Asia Tech Podcast is almost as good as having a business profile written about you. It’s the flagship show of Pitch Media Asia, a young podcast production and distribution company based in Singapore. IGraham D. Brown, the show’s host and Pitch Media Asia’s CEO, has sat down with a wide myriad of personalities, from early-stage startup founders to the executives in the big leagues, like Tony Fernandes of AirAsia.
Each 45-minute episode is filled with nuggets of wisdom sure to inspire and encourage anyone from the creative to the struggling entrepreneur.
The China Startup Pulse
Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher
Featured Guests: ChinesePod host Jenny Zhu, Unicorn investor Peter Davison, Mobike Head of Partnerships Florian Bohnert
Backed by Chinaacelerator, which claims to be the first accelerator to be launched in Asia, China Startup Pulse explores the ins and outs of running a startup in the biggest market in the world. It’s worth spending time in if you’re a startup founder trying to scale business or raise awareness for your brand in China, or an expert who wants to get his or her foot in the door.
TechBuzz China
Available on: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Player FM
With the rise of unicorn Chinese apps and digital startups, it isn’t surprising that a podcast like TechBuzz China has been produced to just mainly discuss them. While it has other episodes on recent startup trends, its hosts, Ying-Ying Lu and Rui Ma, esteemed experts in China’s tech scene, have largely dissected the latest controversies and challenges hounding some of the biggest names in the industry, from Tencent to TikTok, and in the process giving the listener an insight on what to do if ever the same thing happens to their businesses. This is one of the few shows on the list which hardly features any founders or entrepreneurs but still manages to provide an insightful look on the latest in China tech scene. They do write about their takeaways in a separate space on the web though, so being featured on the show is a double win for any brand or thought leader.
Disrupting Japan
Available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher
Like its name suggests, Disrupting Japan is a podcast for those who wish to enter the Japanese market. Almost every episode features at least one startup founder who is based in the country, which already includes wearable toy tech Moff Band founder Akinori Takahagi and ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, who made headlines last year for his goal of doing commercial deliveries to the moon in the next two years. Even local offices of global brands like AirBnb and 500Startups, have made a point to guest in the show. It’s a good space to introduce a new, emerging brand in the country.
Hustleshare
Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube
Featured guests: Serial entrepreneur RJ Ledesma, Ideaspace Foundation co-founder Earl Valencia, 30 Under 30 inductee Georgianna Carlos
While the show’s format is similar to most podcasts on this list, it tries to set itself apart with its packaging. Instead of highlighting the guests’ titles and credentials, the show emphasizes the featured personality’s “success story”, fitting for executives and experts who wish to become thought leaders. Every guest is set to have a good time too, as its host, Ron Baetiong is no stranger to the life of an entrepreneur, having sold his startup, Chatbot PH last year just 13 months after it was launched.
The show could at times go great lengths, quite literally, in discussing some topics, but every listener is sure to have a valuable takeaway in each episode.
