Pocket FM has announced that it has partnered with voice cloning company ElevenLabs to quickly convert text content, such as script, into audio series using AI.
Using ElevenLabs‘ expertise in the field of AI Voice technology, Pocket FM has slashed costs by up to 90 percent. With this integration, the company has multiplied its production efficiency as well. These advancements make audio series creation.
“This is a game-changing, industry-first innovation, disrupting the norm by enabling writers to seamlessly transform their stories into captivating audio series with a single click of a button” stated Prateek Dixit, CTO and Co-founder of Pocket FM.
“By enabling this, we have not only empowered the writing community but also made audio series creation faster and simpler, making storytelling accessible for everyone.”
Pocket FM has produced over 30,000 hours of audio series during its experimental phase and anticipates tripling its content library this year. Currently with a collection of over 100,000 hours of audio series, the company says its platform has garnered positive user feedback on its AI Audio Series, with engagement levels matching that of human voice quality.
By navigating to the “Write” tab in the Pocket FM app and selecting “Series,” writers can initiate the storytelling process. After ensuring it meets the minimum word count, they can effortlessly convert their story into an audio series with a mere tap, with an option to choose their preferred voice and background music.
“We are excited to collaborate with Pocket FM in shaping the future of audio entertainment,” stated Mati Staniszewski, CEO, and Co-founder of ElevenLabs. “Combining our Voice AI expertise with Pocket FM’s innovative approach to audio series promises to take content production to new heights of efficiency and creativity. It’s an exciting journey ahead, one that we believe will set new standards in the entertainment industry.”
The company has expanded into various regions across Europe and LATAM. This collaboration will only accelerate content strategy and enhance efficiency in content generation, it says. Pocket FM, which offers serialised audio content across genres, raised $103 million in Series D funding in March 2024 at a post-money valuation of $750 million.
The round was led by venture capital firm Lightspeed with participation from private markets investment firm Stepstone Group.With this investment, Pocket FM has raised a total funding of about $196.5 million to date.
The company has surpassed $150 million ARR, and is growing at 57 per cent . It has clocked over 20 million transactions in 2023. Globally, listeners spend an average of over 115 minutes daily. In 2023 alone, the platform witnessed over 75 billion minutes of streaming worldwide.
The content spans across genres such as romance, drama, thriller, fantasy, and science fiction in English and several Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, and Marathi.
