Pocket FM: Creating the Netflix Experience for Audio Stories
India-based Pocket FM is building an audio series platform that offers hundreds of episodes tailored to individual tastes—much like Netflix but for audio content. To keep up with the demand for fresh stories, the company is turning to AI tools that help writers produce episodes faster without sacrificing engagement.
Backed by Lightspeed, Pocket FM equips its writers with AI-powered features that suggest improved endings, enhance narrative flow, and provide real-time feedback. This approach aims to speed up the writing process while maintaining quality.
CoPilot: The AI Writing Assistant for Audio Creators
At the heart of Pocket FM’s AI suite is CoPilot, a writing tool designed to support any writer in creating compelling audio stories. It can transform narrative text into dialogue, perform “beat analysis” to boost engagement, and offer chatbot-like commands such as “shorten” or “expand.”
CoPilot was developed by analyzing thousands of hours of audio content to identify what drives listener engagement in different genres. It offers suggestions to increase character conflict, propose exciting episode endings, and recommend background sound effects to enhance production.
Additional features include automatic generation of character bios, relationship maps, and episode summaries—helping writers keep track of complex storylines. The tool also reviews episodes for plot consistency and grammar, providing detailed comments to improve scripts.
Pocket FM uses smaller AI models focused on maintaining story context, character arcs, and narrative coherence. It also leverages user engagement data to encourage adding more drama where it counts.
Expanding Internationally with Localization and Adaptation
Pocket FM has launched adaptation tools that go beyond simple translation. These tools adjust names, phrases, and cultural references to better fit regional markets. After testing in Germany—with positive results like a steady revenue increase surpassing $700,000 in June—the company is rolling out these tools more broadly.
According to founder Rohan Nayak, the timeline to establish a presence in new markets has shrunk from 12-18 months to less than three, thanks to these AI-driven tools. Writer productivity in Germany increased by up to 50%, with fewer errors and higher user retention.
In the U.S., AI-assisted series now account for 10% of total playtime and have generated $7 million in revenue over the past year, while cutting production costs by two to three times.
Scaling Content Production with AI
Pocket FM currently launches close to 1,000 pilot episodes each month. The volume helps surface hits naturally. Beyond audio, the company is developing tools to convert stories into comic strips via its Pocket Toons platform, with video formats also under consideration.
Looking ahead, Pocket FM plans to launch its own large language model (LLM) next year. This unified model will combine writing assistance, adaptation, dramatization, and story context retention, eliminating the need for multiple smaller models.
Challenges and Considerations with AI Adoption
Introducing AI hasn’t come without challenges. Pocket FM has conducted layoffs across multiple rounds in the past year and faces ongoing lawsuits related to employment and wages. Some writers report diminishing returns over time.
A company spokesperson emphasized that AI tools have had minimal impact on the core creative community and instead have opened new avenues to increase output and reach.
Quality remains a key concern. Pocket FM measures it primarily through user retention. While AI acts as a virtual writers’ room for solo creators, there is a risk of introducing low-quality AI-generated content, sometimes called “AI slop,” which could hurt discovery and recommendation systems.
To counter this, every piece of content undergoes AI-powered moderation checking for duplication, copyright issues, and overall content health before going live. The platform gives equal initial exposure to all shows; user engagement ultimately determines ranking.
There’s also the risk of writers becoming too dependent on AI tools. In Germany, AI is already generating more content than human writers for certain shows. As AI use grows, expectations for output may rise, potentially impacting individual returns unless user adoption keeps pace.
The company advises that AI tools help writers edit and refine episodes based on audience feedback, shifting their role from full writing to targeted improvements. This approach aims to maintain quality even as production speeds up.
What Writers Can Take Away
- AI tools like CoPilot can speed up scripting by offering suggestions on structure, dialogue, and pacing.
- Localization technology can help reach new audiences faster by adapting stories culturally and linguistically.
- Quality control through AI moderation is crucial to prevent flooding platforms with subpar content.
- Writers should view AI as an assistant for editing and enhancing stories, not as a replacement.
- Balancing AI assistance with creative input is key to maintaining originality and user engagement.
For writers interested in exploring AI tools that assist with content creation, AI copywriting tools can provide practical support without replacing the creative process.
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