Hubhopper enters into partnership with UPES School of Modern Media

Sukriti Tankha

Hubhopper Studio has entered into partnership with UPES School of Modern Media, Dehradun. This is its first-ever academic partnership, which makes Hubhopper Studio as UPES’s official podcast partner supporting the school’s podcasting course available within the modern media curriculum.
Through this partnership, Hubhopper Studio and School of Modern Media will develop and execute collaborative activities, provide training, hold joint workshops and sessions to teach students the evolution, future implications, and application of podcasts. The students will also get to train on Hubhopper Studio tools helping them learn and harness their content creation skills. Theywill also have access to veteran podcasters for relevant industry exposure and opportunities to gain practical experience. We speak to Gautam Raj Anand, Founder and CEO, Hubhopper for more. Excerpts:

What prompted you to go for this partnership. Whilst the students learn  new skills, what benefit will Hubhopper derive out of the partnership?
With the current boom in the audio content space, it is a great time to bring podcasting to the students who are looking at building their future in the media industry. By training students with Hubhopper Studio tools, we are empowering them to harness their skills and take the content space to newer heights. This will help us  build a well-grounded podcast community in India that is not as extensive as the  podcast listening community yet. As we power more creators, it will create a good balance between the demand and supply which is currently lacking in the podcast space.

What do you see as the future of podcasting and do you think it is a genuine career option at this stage?
As Indians, we have always been indulging in audio storytelling, knowingly or not. Backing this up now are some huge numbers. India is the third largest consumer of podcasts, with 57.6 million monthly listeners.  From here, the future of podcasting looks pretty promising. However, we need to be patient with this audio wave, as it’ll take time for some folks to absorb this content form. It is relatively new for people, so we need to spread awareness about this content form. That being said, we need to look at more creative ways to monetize the audio content. Soon we’ll be able to create a more stable environment for creators to start seeing podcasting as a career     choice.

Do you have any tips for young people who want to get into podcasting?
Some people might feel different at the beginning of their podcasting journey.  Since you don’t have an audience physically present in front of you, it is natural. I’d advise them to visualize their listeners. Even if you can’t see them, keep them in your mind. As you stay conscious of their presence, it will reflect in your content. Secondly, be consistent. Show up every day, work on your content, record your episode, and share it with your listeners. The things you love come naturally to you only because you do them consistently. Lastly, engage with your audience. Talk to them. They are the ones who are hanging onto each of your words.

What are the future plans for Hubhopper?
We are aiming to democratize the audio space. There are still many who aren’t familiar with the whole podcasting concept. We want to fix that. Building this space in such a way that it can be leveraged and enjoyed by all is our main motive. We want to power creators and build this community on solid grounds. At Hubhopper, we are working hard towards achieving these goals.