Mapping Turkish Health Podcasts: Strategic Voice or Mere Noise?

Year 2025, Issue: 69, 118 - 131, 12.01.2026

Çiğdem Özkan Sev

https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2025-1743095

https://izlik.org/JA29PC83WX

Abstract

This study maps the landscape of 100 Turkish-language health podcasts produced by professionals and institutions in Türkiye and evaluates their strategic communication capacity. The sample identified via the keyword “sağlık” on Spotify and Apple Podcasts was analyzed by coding the most recent episode of each podcast against a five-item index: (1) presence of a call-to-action (CTA), (2) regularity of release cadence, (3) host expertise, (4) conversational tone, and (5) explicit audience specification. Of the podcasts examined, 55% are individual productions and 45% are institutional. Thematic distribution is led by mental health (32%), followed by nutrition (19%) and general health (18%). A substantial share of institutional podcasts functions primarily as a content repository, suggesting that the editorial conventions of podcasting have yet to be fully internalised. The highest strategic scores are concentrated in mental health, which shows that foreground professional credentials, employ behaviour-oriented CTAs, and delineate their target audiences. Turkish health podcasts display marked formal and thematic fragmentation and operate without a systematic publishing ethos. Future producer-centred qualitative work that uncovers creators’ motivations, resource configurations, and strategic planning processes will likely contribute to the nascent literature on health podcasting.

Keywords

health podcasts , strategic communication , Türkiye , health communication , podcast ecosystem.

Türkiye’deki Sağlık Podcastlerini Haritalamak: Stratejik Bir Ses mi, Yoksa Sadece Gürültü mü?

https://izlik.org/JA29PC83WX

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de sağlık profesyonelleri ve kurumları tarafından üretilen 100 Türkçe podcasti haritalayarak stratejik iletişim kapasitelerini incelemektedir. Spotify ve Apple Podcasts’ta “sağlık” anahtar sözcüğüyle yürütülen tarama sonucunda oluşturulan örneklem, her kanalın en güncel bölümü temel alınarak beş göstergeli bir ölçekle kodlanmıştır: eylem çağrısı (CTA), düzenli yayın periyodu, sunucu uzmanlığı, samimi hitap tonu ve açık hedef kitle beyanı. Kanalların %55’i bireysel, %45’i kurumsal üretimdir; tematik dağılımda ruh sağlığı (%32), beslenme (%19) ve genel sağlıklı yaşam (%18) öne çıkmaktadır. Kurumsal podcastlerin büyük oranda içerik deposu olarak kullanılması podcast formatının editoryal gerekliliklerinin henüz içselleştirilmediğini göstermektedir. En yüksek stratejik puanlar, uzman kimliği vurgulayan, davranış yönelimli CTA içeren ve hedef kitlesini net tanımlayan ruh sağlığı podcastlerinde gözlenmiştir. Genel olarak sağlık podcastlerinin biçimsel ve içerik açısında dağınık olduğu, sistematik bir yayın anlayışından uzak olduğu görülmektedir. Gelecekte, podcast üreticilerinin motivasyonlarını, kaynak yönetimlerini ve stratejik planlama süreçlerini derinlemesine ele alan yapımcı odaklı nitel incelemelerin alan yazına önemli katkılar sağlayacağı öngörülmektedir.

Keywords

sağlık podcastleri , stratejik iletişim , Türkiye , sağlık iletişimi , podcast ekosistemi

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