NEWSHow Pocket FM Turned Fantasy into the New Big Thing for Audio
July 14 2025, Published 1:13 a.m. ET
Whether it’s the Middle-earth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the frozen north of George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire,” or the whispered campfire tales of childhood, fantasy has always been intriguing and has ignited imaginations.
And yet, after decades of big-budget studios producing for the big screens that (quite literally) owned the rights to many of these worlds, fantasy has become more than just a figment of people’s own imaginations. However, big screens meant bigger budgets, which, by default, limited the number of productions that could be made per year. To add to that, the production houses determined every aspect of these films from the visuals to the audio, which, in turn, all but killed individual imaginations.
Not anymore. Pocket FM, the audio series arm of Pocket Entertainment, is quietly rewriting the genre's fate, one audio episode at a time.
The rise of audio-first fantasy
The India-born audio series platform is experiencing an unprecedented boom in fantasy fiction, with marquee titles like “My Vampire System” (2,296 episodes, 633 million plays), “God Eye” (1,478 episodes, 109 million plays), and “Jack’s Retribution” (2,442 episodes, 67 million plays) leading the charge. Pocket FM’s audio series are not just passive listening experiences. They are serialized, immersive audio epics that are gripping millions without a single frame of video.
“Fantasy is no longer just a visual genre,” said Lalit Gangwar, Head-US, Pocket FM. “We have unlocked the potential in audio by creating rich worlds, compelling arcs, and edge-of-your-seat storytelling in a format that travels with you.”
Over the past few years, Pocket FM has carved out its space in the world of non-music audio entertainment, particularly in the US, with its immersive on-the-go content.
“Audio brings fantasy to life in a way that feels personal,” says Gangwar. “There is something incredibly powerful about being the only one hearing a whispered spell or a warrior’s scream. It’s immersive, immediate, and intimate.”
For example, “God Eye” is more like the dystopian version of a Dan Brown novel, while the plot of “Jack’s Retribution” puts readers in the shoes of a live-or-die post-apocalyptic world of martial artists.
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Creating audio IP for scale
Fantasy, historically, has always thrived on archetypes — the orphaned hero, the secret prophecy, the reluctant villain. What Pocket FM has done is tighten the arcs to audio pacing, creating cliffhanger endings for each episode that last for 7-10 minutes.
Pocket FM’s advantage is the format it currently offers: bite-sized audio series. Audio requires a fraction of the production cost of any fantasy movie, and Americans are binge-listening to these audio dramas around the clock and on the go.
And it’s paying off. Pocket FM’s internal data revealed that its US users spent an average of 135 minutes daily listening to its audio series. And, according to Gangwar, “Fantasy as a category on Pocket FM has witnessed substantial growth in daily listens over the past year.”
Pocket FM isn’t just creating content; it’s building original intellectual property. This same strategy mirrors how modern-day giants in the film entertainment industry successfully scaled comic book characters into global entertainment empires.
“In five years, don’t be surprised if you find our top characters across bookshelves, screens, and even gaming consoles,” said Gangwar, adding that the company’s target is to become the world’s “leading provider of mobile audio entertainment” first.
