Pocket FM leverages AI to become the 'Netflix of Audio'
While AI has boosted productivity, Pocket FM now launches close to 1,000 pilot shows a month—it has also raised concerns. The company has faced layoffs and lawsuits related to employment practices, and there are questions about the potential for “AI slop,” or low-quality, AI-generated content.
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In a push to become the "Netflix of audio," India-based platform Pocket FM is rapidly scaling its content production with the help of new AI tools. The company, backed by Lightspeed, aims to match its vast library of multi-episode audio series to user preferences by dramatically speeding up the creative process.
The startup is rolling out a suite of AI tools called CoPilot to its writers, designed to accelerate story creation. These tools can suggest more engaging endings, add drama between characters, and even transform narrative writing into dialogue-based scripts. According to founder Rohan Nayak, this allows writers to finish episodes in less time. CoPilot was developed by analyzing thousands of hours of user engagement data to understand what makes a storyline captivating within a specific genre.
Global Expansion and Efficiency
Pocket FM is also using AI to fuel its international expansion. The company has developed localization tools that not only translate stories but also adapt names and cultural phrases to suit different regions. This approach was successfully tested in Germany, where the company saw a significant increase in monthly revenue after previously struggling to engage users.
Nayak stated that this AI-driven approach has reduced the time it takes to establish a presence in a new market from 12-18 months to under three months. In the U.S., shows created with these tools now account for 10% of playtime and have generated $7 million in revenue over the last year, while reducing production costs by 2-3 times.
The Double-Edged Sword of AI
While AI has boosted productivity—Pocket FM now launches close to 1,000 pilot shows a month—it has also raised concerns. The company has faced layoffs and lawsuits related to employment practices, and there are questions about the potential for “AI slop,” or low-quality, AI-generated content.
A company spokesperson defended the strategy, stating that AI primarily serves as a "writer's room" for solo creators, helping them to produce more content faster and refine stories based on audience feedback. The company insists that its AI-powered moderation framework reviews every submission for quality and originality to prevent a flood of poor content. However, the increasing reliance on AI, with some German shows having more AI-written content than human-written, has sparked worries about whether writers could become too dependent and if average returns might drop as content volume surges.
