Aotearoa’s biggest podcasting platform continues to deliver

CAMA’s podcasting platform, accessmedia.nz, continues to ensure the Community Access media sector’s massively diverse range of content finds audiences seeking their languages, cultures, music, or even just an insight into life in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The platform is supported by NZ on Air and ensures the twelve CAMA member stations have a robust tool for remaining relevant in a fast-changing media environment.

The platform hosts more than 1,000 podcast titles. In the year ending 30 June, it shared nearly 25,000 new episodes and 20,000-odd hours of unique locally-made content.

The platform’s project lead, Phil Grey, says the podcasting industry has been hit hard with Apple’s release of iOS 17, which altered how iPhones automatically download podcast episodes.

“Established platforms have seen downloads of older episodes drop by more than half. We’ve certainly felt the impact too, but are delighted to have our download number grow 20% from quarter one to quarter two this year.”

Last year’s highest-consumed podcasts included shows in languages such as Telugu, Zulu, Tamil and Samoan. Topics included Buddhism, alcoholism and recovery, local theatre, and a broad selection of musical genres, including bluegrass, 1960s garage punk, jazz, and afrobeat.