Should Your Brand Start a Business Podcast in Egypt?

Every few months a founder tells us they want a podcast. Sometimes it's a great idea. Sometimes they've just watched a big Arabic podcast blow up on YouTube and want the same thing next week.

Our view: a business podcast in Egypt is worth it when three things are true: you know exactly who it's for, you have someone who can hold a conversation on camera, and you're willing to keep publishing for at least six months before judging it. If one of those is missing, you'll probably get three episodes and a lot of unused footage.

Below is how we help brands decide. If you're already sure and want to talk production, our podcast and show production service is the place to start.

Here's what this covers:

• What a podcast actually does
• When a podcast makes sense
• When it doesn't
• What a brand podcast really costs you
• Formats that work for Egyptian brands
• How to test before you commit
• Our take

What a podcast actually does

It won't sell your product this week. What it does well is build trust slowly with a specific group of people, by letting them spend real time with someone who knows what they're talking about.

The market is clearly growing. Egypt's Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center estimated podcast revenue in Egypt at around 222 million dollars in 2023 and projected it could reach about 1.6 billion by 2030. That's a sign more people are listening and watching. It isn't a sign your podcast will work. The shows that win are the ones with a clear audience and a host people want to hear from again.

When a podcast makes sense

A podcast tends to work when the sale depends on trust and expertise, and when the buying decision takes time.

Say you run a fertility clinic in Mohandessin. Patients spend months researching, they're anxious, and they want to know the doctor before they book. A monthly show where your doctors answer real questions calmly does more than any promo video. Or a real-estate developer selling off-plan in New Cairo: buyers worry about delivery, payment plans and resale. A show that tackles those worries openly builds credibility you can't buy with ads. B2B companies, consultants, education brands and finance services fit the same pattern.

It also helps if you have access to interesting guests. A brand that can bring in industry people, customers with real stories or experts from its network has an easier time than one relying on its own team every week.

When it doesn't

Skip the podcast if you need sales next month. Paid ads and a solid offer will do more, faster.

Skip it if nobody on the team wants to host, or if the only possible host is a founder who's never free. A podcast with a reluctant host shows on camera within thirty seconds.

Skip it if what you sell is a quick, low-price purchase where people don't need much convincing. A snack brand doesn't need an hour-long show. Short entertaining videos or a presenter-led series usually work better, and our piece on brand presenters explains that route.

And skip it if the plan is "one episode and we'll see." You won't see anything from one episode.

What a brand podcast really costs you

The production budget is the obvious cost. The less obvious one is time.

Each episode needs topic planning, guest booking, research, a shoot day, a review of the edit and approval of the clips. Even with a production team doing the heavy work, someone inside the company has to own the show: choose the topics, approve the guests, sign off on episodes. Count a few hours per episode for that person, every episode, for months.

Then there's the opportunity cost. The same budget could go into ads, a product shoot or a season of reels. A podcast is a good use of money when the trust it builds is worth more to you than the quicker wins.

Formats that work for Egyptian brands

You don't have to copy the two-chairs-and-a-table look. A few formats that tend to work well for brands here:

• Expert Q&A: your specialist answers real customer questions, one topic per episode.
• Customer stories: real customers talk about their problem and how they solved it (with their permission).
• Industry interviews: you host people your customers respect, and your brand becomes the one convening the conversation.
• Short series: six to eight episodes on one theme, then a break. Easier to commit to than an open-ended weekly show.

Shorter episodes are fine. Twenty focused minutes beats an hour of drifting. And a show doesn't have to be called a podcast at all. If it's built mainly for YouTube, our guide on producing a YouTube show for your brand covers the other formats.

How to test before you commit

You don't have to sign up for fifty episodes. Run a pilot:

1. Write a one-page show plan with the audience, format, host and ten episode ideas.
2. Record three episodes in one or two shoot days.
3. Publish the clips on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook over a month, and the full episodes on YouTube.
4. Watch the signals: saves, shares, comments with real questions, messages on WhatsApp mentioning the show, and how far people watch.

If the clips get engagement and people ask about the full episode, you have something. If nobody reacts after three episodes and a month of clips, change the format or the host before spending more. Our step-by-step guide to the podcast production process explains what each of those three episodes involves.

Our take

Most brands that ask us about a podcast are better served by starting smaller: a short pilot, or a clip-first series built around one host. The ones that commit with a clear audience and a patient plan often end up with the most valuable content they own, because one good episode feeds a month of social posts and keeps working for years.

If you want a second opinion on whether your idea fits, tell us about it through the contact page. And when you're ready to produce it, our video podcast production team handles the shoot, edit and clips.