Egyptian YouTuber Ahmed Samir, known for his 1+ million-subscriber YouTube channel Egychology, has partnered with regional podcast company Kerning Cultures Network to launch a new podcast titled ‘A Superbly Scientific Podcast’ (بودكاست علمي جدا).
Samir decided to expand into podcasting to accommodate the growing need for popular science content in the MENA region. “I wanted to take the first step to hopefully encourage listeners to engage in podcast content and maybe encourage some other popular science content creators to get into podcasting as well,” he explains.
“When the chance presented itself with Kerning Cultures Network, their experience and resources made the choice very easy.”
Bella Ibrahim, the Marketing Director at Kerning Cultures, explains that the network sought to fill a gap in the podcast market through a popular science podcast presented in Arabic. “Ahmed Samir’s work on Egychology is a perfect fit – not only is the content accessible and entertaining, but his audience (1 million strong!) is also so engaged and eager for more content,” she says.
Samir believes the podcast will help him connect with his audience in new and more engaging ways.
“As someone who has been listening to podcasts for years, I’ve found that there are certain elements to them that can’t be captured in video format,” Samir says.
“Telling a story with your voice forces the listener to use their imagination to conjure up an image of what’s being said. Everyone will bring up different images and I think the whole idea of processing and understanding what’s being said in different ways is brilliant.”
Ibrahim explains that the podcast targets Egychology fans, who are primarily youth based in Egypt. “It’s a strategic overlap as Egypt is Kerning Cultures Network’s #2 listening country; we estimate current listenership there to be between 1-3 million. We’re also seeing a lot of Egychology fans who are now first-time podcast listeners as well – tapping into Ahmed Samir’s audience is an opportunity for us to grow the podcast market in Egypt,” she says.
Samir launched Egychology in 2015 to combine his love of teaching with his desire to create uplifting content. His episodes tackle a broad variety of complex subjects, from quantum mechanics and art history to the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine.
He explains that he chooses topics for both platforms based on his reading, but he will tackle topics differently through the podcast. “With the podcast, I’m trying to make things flow and sound more like a scientific story rather than a spiel of experimental studies and results. It’s about making it closer to home for the listeners. You can expect anything in the podcast, from philosophy to astronomy to neuroscience. But what I can promise is it’ll be something worth listening to,” he says.
When asked to pick the topic he is most excited to tackle, he notes that it’s difficult to pick a favourite since each topic has its individual quirks. “Episode 3 [of the podcast] is probably the most fun I’ve had with any of the scripts for the podcast, so I’ll leave the listeners to tell me what they think,” he adds, explaining that the first season was curated with the listeners’ aspirations in mind.
Samir is pleased that feedback about the podcast has been positive so far: “It’s extremely humbling to see how well people are responding to this new kind of content. I cannot ascertain as to what the future of the podcast holds, but I guess it all comes down to what the listeners want.”
The weekly podcast aired its first episode on 29 June. Each episode spans 10-15 minutes and it is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other streaming platforms.
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