Indian audio storytelling company Pocket FM has doubled its annualized revenue run rate to approximately $500 million over the past year as it increasingly uses artificial intelligence to create and distribute content. 

The company says AI now supports about 93 percent of its overall catalogue and is involved in the production of nearly all of its newly released content.

Despite AI’s growing role, Pocket FM says human creators remain central to developing its stories. 

Writers and creators provide the ideas and creative direction, while the company uses artificial intelligence for tasks such as writing assistance, voice generation, and large-scale content production. 

Pocket FM says this approach lets it produce more stories while keeping humans involved in the creative process.

The company estimates that AI has reduced its content production costs by about 80 times. 

According to its leadership, production that previously required roughly a year for 100 hours of content can now be completed in approximately one day. 

The resulting increase in output has helped expand the company’s catalogue, which now contains more than 770,000 audio series.

Pocket FM currently has more than 250 million listeners across more than 20 countries, with the United States representing its largest market and accounting for about 70 percent of its annualized revenue. 

The company generates most of its income from users who pay to unlock individual episodes, while advertising provides an additional revenue stream. 

It also says dozens of titles have generated more than $1 million each.

The company is now expanding beyond audio through Pocket Saga, a short drama platform that uses fully AI generated video content. 

Pocket Entertainment, its parent company, is also exploring additional entertainment formats and considering further investment in artificial intelligence. 

Although the company is reportedly discussing a potential fundraising round, its leadership says there is no immediate pressure to raise capital and that a public listing is unlikely within the next two years.

Source: TechCrunch