Pocket Entertainment, creator of Pocket FM, has achieved record-breaking growth, cementing its leadership in the global audio series market.

Times of crisis often give birth to the best ideas, and the COVID-19 pandemic was undoubtedly the worst crisis the world has faced in recent times. As the virus spread in 2020, governments worldwide announced lockdowns, forcing people to stay confined to their homes for weeks on end.

Throughout the early months of the pandemic, living rooms were transformed into makeshift offices. Smartphones became a lifeline for many. Eyes became glued to screens for work, communications, news, and entertainment. As a result, reports of “screen fatigue” became more widespread than ever. While the pandemic kept people indoors, digital platforms, from streaming services to blockchain-enabled creator marketplaces, competed for attention.

That period was when a quieter, more intimate form of entertainment began to catch on. While most of the world was obsessed with short-form video content for entertainment, Pocket Entertainment, which had already built a niche in non-music audio entertainment with Pocket FM, saw an opportunity and decided to redefine “storytelling for the ears” with a different rhythm.

The New Generation of Serialized Audio Entertainment

At a time when entertainment giants were riding the wave of short-form video or churning out podcasts, the team at Pocket FM decided to bet on a largely forgotten format — serialized audio drama. They called it the “audio series,” which is essentially the dramatic adaptation of a long-form story, fiction or non-fiction, presented in episodic form that can only be listened to. (Think “War of the Worlds” but released as a multi-part series.)

Since these episodic series weren’t as stiff as audiobooks or as talk-heavy as podcasts, Pocket FM’s audio series offered something that people soon started finding themselves easily able to “binge listen.”

“We weren’t just reviving radio dramas,” says Rohan Nayak, co-founder and CEO of Pocket Entertainment. “We were building something completely new for the next generation of listeners.”

And that next generation of listeners heard the call. As last reported in March 2024, Pocket FM, the company’s flagship platform, now boasts over 10 million users in the US alone.

“The engagement we see isn’t casual,” Nayak observes. “People binge audio series the same way they binge any web series.”

Crafting Content Made for “Binge Listening”

As reported by Variety, Pocket FM listeners in the US spend an average of 135 minutes per day listening to audio series content. That equates to 20 minutes more than the global average of 115 minutes, and more than double the time Americans spend on TikTok each day (53.8 minutes).

As of 2025, Pocket Entertainment has more than 200 million global listeners with access to a library of over 75,000 audio series. These range from fantasy thrillers and romantic dramas to slice-of-life stories and suspense-filled mysteries.

The binge behaviour is no accident. Each episode of every audio series from Pocket Entertainment is intentionally designed to end on a cliffhanger, encouraging sustained engagement where listeners return daily.

“Audio Series work because they’re structured like premium television,” says Nayak. “It’s not narration. Every Audio Series is a full-blown movie, sans the visuals.”

Exponential Growth 

In less than three years, Pocket FM’s platform grew from zero to over $250 million (approx. Rs 2,000 crore) in annualized run rate (ARR). It delivered a strong financial performance in FY 2024, achieving a global revenue of $127.05 million, a remarkable 496% growth from $21.3 million in FY 2023. 

According to a recent article from Business World, several of Pocket FM’s hit audio series — such as “Insta Millionaire,” “Saving Nora,” “Insta Empire,” “⁠⁠Rekindled Heartache,” ⁠“My Vampire System,” “God Eye,” and more — have crossed $10 million in revenue from users, with several others having exceeded $50 million in revenue.

“To date, over 30 of our audio series have crossed the million-dollar mark,” Nayak reports.

In a digital world overflowing with visual content, Pocket Entertainment is betting on a quieter revolution. “We have always believed audio can be as engaging, cinematic, and emotionally rich,” Nayak says. “We just had to prove it.”

Now, with listeners tuning in from more than 80 countries, and 1.6 billion playtime hours (100 billion minutes) logged in 2024 alone, that proof is hard to ignore. What began as an experiment has become one of the most beloved entertainment stories of the decade, a global category, born from sound.

This industry announcement article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.