The consolidation of smartphones as dominant devices for access to digital information and entertainment has redefined the processes of production and commercialization of cultural communication industries. The nature of these screens, which prioritize the visual content over the sound, decisively influences distribution strategies in the audio market: radio operators, streaming music platforms and podcast creators need to adapt their value chains to the habits derived from this mediation, especially in the younger audience. This research identifies the practices of mobile use as an audio receiver among adolescents in Colombia, Spain and Mexico –the most representative countries of Spanish-speaking digital sound consumption– based on a descriptive study on a thousand subjects from 13 to 19 years of age. The results confirm the overwhelming dominance in this music menu in the face of low penetration of radio and podcast word content. The selection is based on personal criteria, with little margin for the prescription of family or friends. There is evidence of the roots of individual listening, linked to the brand and the visibility of audio providers, who are obliged to develop diffusion logics based not only on thematic or genre preferences, but also on the user experience.La consolidación de los smartphones como dispositivos dominantes de acceso a la información y el ocio digital ha redefinido los procesos de producción y comercialización de las industrias culturales de la comunicación. La naturaleza de estas pantallas, que priorizan el contenido visual sobre el sonoro, determina hoy las estrategias de distribución y comercialización en el mercado del audio: operadores de radio, servicios de música en streaming y creadores de podcasts necesitan adecuar sus cadenas de valor a los hábitos derivados de esta mediatización, sobre todo en la audiencia más joven. Esta investigación identifica las prácticas de uso del móvil como receptor de audio entre los adolescentes de Colombia, España y México –los países más representativos del consumo digital sonoro hispanohablante– a partir de un estudio descriptivo sobre 1.004 sujetos de 13 a 19 años. Los resultados revelan el abrumador dominio de la música en este menú frente a la baja aceptación de los contenidos de palabra de radio y podcast. Su selección se asienta sobre criterios personales, con poco margen para la prescripción de familiares o amigos. Se constata el arraigo de una escucha individual, ligada a la marca y la visibilidad de los oferentes de audio, obligados a desarrollar lógicas de difusión basadas no sólo en preferencias de temas o géneros, sino también en las asociadas a la experiencia de usuario en estos terminales.

The media has become a central aspect of everyday life, providing information and entertainment, and serving as a basis for citizen consumption. The content that appears on the internet today is the result of numerous experiences accumulated throughout the history of media, particularly in the last four decades of technological and social development. The following text analyses how the hybridisation of analogue and digital technologies affects audience consumption patterns and expectations, leading to a more flexible relationship with the media. This study employed a theoretical examination of documentary sources, including texts, articles, and digital materials. The findings indicate a shift from simple, vertical, and linear communication systems to networks that enable horizontal and personalised consumption. The conclusion drawn is that technology has redefined structures and concepts, with the smartphone serving as the focal point of media consumption. Living culture is shaped by technology, because the message, more than the specific content, is the meaning, recognition, and exchange of a world that needs to be re-thought.

Smartphone normalisation device prevalent access to information and digital entertainment has modified the routines of production, distribution and marketing of the traditional media industry. This study analyses and systematises the strategies of the 10 main Colombian operators in press, radio and TV—according to their impact and scope—on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube through a quantitative and qualitative study of their messages in order to identify its positioning, treatment and effectiveness. The results of this study allow us to recognise the renewal of productive routines online and offline, decreasingly linked to Journalism.

This article identifies the peculiarities of audio consumption (radio, music and podcast) by Colombian adolescents and youth on their screen devices, especially the smartphone. The irruption in the digital ecosystem of radio and sound platforms redefines the industry’s relationship with new audiences. The body of research, classified into three age groups (puberty –10 to 14 years–, middle –15 to 19 years–, and full –20 to 24 years–), is made up of students in basic secondary education and university students who were consulted through a quantitative methodology (700 surveys) and a qualitative one (8 focus groups with 48 participants), which made it possible to recognize the routines and the sound agenda of the subjects of study. The results of the research outline the profile of the Colombian audio consumer, whose habits of listening to the radio alternate times of attention to the broadcast on air with the consumption of apps, websites and music distribution platforms, which evidences their digital skills and the creation of a menu that combines music, sports and entertainment content. It is a media diet built on the mediation of technological devices and the influence of family and virtual communities. The sound component is the backbone of the relationship between industry and listener, but visual and iconographic elements are added to reinforce the bonds with brand, media and producer, regardless of where audio meets audience.

The communication industry in Colombia has promoted over the last decade a process of transformation and design of new proposals in both traditional media and digital natives, a range of operational strategies to distribute textual, sound, and visual formats through the social networks, adapting the content to the particularities and attributes of each one of them. The irruption of the implementation of the peace accords, the pandemic and citizen nonconformity taken to the streets have served to verify the real dimension of this reconfiguration, as well as its effectiveness in terms of credibility and scope in the face of an unprecedented scenario that has transformed the social and cultural interaction of citizens through technology. This research focuses on the response of Colombian journalistic agents to the demand for information during the period 2019, 2020 and 2021, from a mixed quantitative-descriptive methodology that allows identifying, quantifying, and assessing the relationship between newspapers, radio stations and television channels with the new platforms. The corpus of the study is made up of the publications on social networks of the Colombian media with the greatest circulation according to the Colombian Association for Media Research: two newspapers (El tiempo and El espectador), five radio stations (Caracol radio, W radio, Blu radio, RCN radio and La FM) and the news from the two television networks with the highest audience (Noticias Caracol and Noticias RCN). The results of the study show a reinforcement of the brand of the journalistic company as a reference for information and credibility, however, the current situation has not served to legitimize the role of journalists in social networks and has underlined the fragility of a media ecosystem highly exposed to polarization, manipulation, and mistrust. Resumen La industria de la comunicación en Colombia ha impulsado a lo largo de la última década un proceso de transformación y diseño de nuevas propuestas tanto en medios tradicionales como en nativos digitales, gama de estrategias operativas para distribuir formatos textuales, sonoros y visuales a través de las redes sociales, adaptando los contenidos a las particularidades y atributos de cada una de ellas. La irrupción de la implementación de los acuerdos de paz, la pandemia y el inconformismo ciudadano llevado a las calles han servido para constatar la dimensión real de esa reconfiguración, así como su efectividad en términos de credibilidad y alcance ante un escenario inédito que ha transformado la interacción social y cultural de los ciudadanos a través de la tecnología. Esta investigación centra su atención en la respuesta de los agentes periodísticos colombianos a la demanda de información durante el periodo 2019, 2020 y 2021, desde una metodología mixta cuantitativo-descriptiva que permite identificar, cuantificar y valorar la relación entre periódicos, emisoras de radio y canales de televisión con las nuevas plataformas. El corpus del estudio está compuesto por las publicaciones en redes sociales de los medios colombianos con mayor difusión según la Asociación Colombiana de Investigación de Medios: dos periódicos (El tiempo y El espectador), cinco cadenas de radio (Caracol radio, W radio, Blu radio, RCN radio y La FM) y los informativos de las dos cadenas televisivas de mayor audiencia (Noticias Caracol y Noticias RCN). Los resultados del estudio evidencian un refuerzo de la marca de la empresa periodística como referente de información y credibilidad, no obstante, la coyuntura del momento no ha servido para legitimar el papel de los periodistas en las redes sociales, y ha subrayado la fragilidad de un ecosistema mediático muy expuesto a la polarización, la manipulación y la desconfianza.

Fifteen years after the term was coined, the podcast is now consolidated as a sound format with a specific identity within the digital media ecosystem. The practice of podcasting is none other than radio, but one encompassing diverse production on both expressive and thematic levels whose properties (mobility, narrative fragmentation, and the integration of multiple devices) and personalized consumption generate a very different listener attitude compared with traditional radio. After an initial period of independent amateurism strongly conditioned by the technologies available, the podcast has achieved significant global popular recognition, as well as an increasingly important professional dimension thanks to the emergence and spread of new distribution platforms (podcast networks) designed to serve as alternatives to the dominant feeds (such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iVoox, and Spotify) that rely on different catalogs and business models. This investigation identifies, describes, and systematically orders the main management and marketing models for podcasts on these platforms on the basis of a comparative analysis of fourteen of them, two in each of the eight countries in Europe, North America, and Latin America where this format is most widespread: Acast (Sweden); Podimo (Denmark); Binge Audio and Majelan (France); Podimo Spain and Podium Podcast (Spain); PodcastOne and Luminary (USA); Convoy Network and Puentes (Mexico); Posta and Parque Podcast (Argentina); and Pia Podcast and Podway (Colombia). The study measures and compares the offerings of each of the studied platforms using different quantitative and qualitative variables (age, territorial reach, content categories, dominant genres, funding, and consumption). The objective is to start to draw up a global map of the main operators in the podcasting industry, and to identify the production trends and marketing strategies of a format with increasing impact and demand, destined to become the future heir of broadcast radio.