Indian audio platform Pocket FM has carved a niche in the audio space with over 200,000 hours of rich content. However, its CEO Rohan Nayak is not satisfied with the status quo. He believes that the platform still has huge room for improvement in original content development and content diversity. To this end, Pocket FM actively embraces artificial intelligence technology, uses AI tools to improve audio production efficiency, optimize content strategies, and is committed to better adapting story content to different regional cultures, striving to create a more attractive audio platform.
"I feel like our content catalog is not rich enough for users," Nayak said during a call with TechCrunch. "There are a lot of genres and sub-genres that are missing from our library, especially in the mature entertainment space."
Currently, Pocket FM is working with ElevenLabs to use AI to convert text into an audio series. The use of this technology increases the production speed by five times and reduces the cost by thirty times. It is a win-win solution that saves time and money.
Nay mentioned: "We have tested the performance of these AI adaptations in different markets, and the results have been quite good. Although we are still correcting errors in the model, we believe that the technology is mature enough to be used in program production."
Pocket FM is also experimenting with an AI tool designed to adapt stories to different regions. The company said it trained its internal model to go beyond simple translation and take into account cultural nuances to ensure the story is delivered in different places and touches people's hearts.
However, dealing with content consistency across hundreds of episodes is no easy task. Pocket FM said they needed to deal with the context window limitations of the open source model and build a graph of relationships between different characters in the story to maintain character consistency.
Additionally, Pocket FM is testing a creative assistant for writers. This tool helps writers come up with alternative plots or ideas, and in the future they plan to incorporate insights from the platform’s historical data into this tool to tell writers what content is performing well on the platform.
Nayak emphasized that while the tool is still in its early stages, the company hopes to give each independent writer the ability to have a "writers' room" to help them get inspiration when producing episodes on a daily basis. The concept of a writers’ room makes creative communication more efficient without interfering with the creator’s independent thinking, which is the core idea of this creative assistant.
At the same time, the company is also investing in a "hit engine" to gain insights from the platform about which shows are growing in popularity. Pocket FM’s ultimate goal is to expand its catalog of content, and while they have begun producing some content in-house and creating shows through their own network of writers, creating hit shows is essential if they want to expand their reach.
“Breaking content is the driving force of any content platform. Although we already have a good foundation in user-generated content, discovering the real hits is still a thorny issue.”
With the support of AI technology, Pocket FM has achieved encouraging results. There are currently more than 40,000 series on the platform. Thanks to AI's sound generation technology, the company has generated US$3 million in revenue. Overall, the platform’s revenue in fiscal year 2024 reached $127 million.
However, the company's biggest challenge is how to find a balance between AI helping creators and rapid content production. If left unchecked, the result of using AI to accelerate content production may be a large number of mediocre productions, making it difficult for algorithms to identify good programs.
Indian screenwriter and lyricist Puneet Sharma points out that in the face of so many formulaic works, artists must work hard to prove that their creations are unique. Although AI tools can help writers generate ideas and learn different styles, in the process of using these tools, writers may lose the opportunity to learn through failure.
Nayak said that some screenwriters and creators are already using AI tools. The company aims to combine these tools with the context of stories and platforms to enhance the creative process. Pocket FM has raised $197 million in multiple rounds of funding from investors including Lightspeed Ventures, Tencent and Times Internet. Facing competition including Audible, Omidyar Network-backed Pratilipi and Google-backed Kuku FM, Pocket FM is going all out to enrich and innovate content.
The editor of Downcodes concluded: The successful case of Pocket FM demonstrates the huge potential of AI technology in the field of audio content creation, and also reminds us to pay attention to the balance and challenges in the application of AI technology. How to find the best balance between AI-assisted creation and maintaining content quality is a key issue that needs to be faced for the continued development of future audio platforms.