Episode 28:  6 Facts, Industry Trends & Predictions to Help Inform whether your business should start a podcast

Episode 28:  6 Facts, Industry Trends & Predictions to Help Inform whether your business should start a podcast

The simple concept of the ability to stream content like talk radio on demand on any device over the internet is gaining mass market appeal or what’s also referred to as “Mainstream”.  The podcast industry is becoming more mature and inevitably is seen to take over radio since 90 to 100 million Americans listen to a podcast every month.  Podcast shows are being made into television, movies and books and the distribution channel lines are being blurred with the evolution of video and audio consumption options.

Said by, Cara Meverden of Scout.fm, “Our user studies have shown that tons of people who don’t listen to podcasts listen to YouTube while they drive. YouTube will help this market listen in their cars without breaking the law, and podcasters will start to aggressively jump onto YouTube.”
Cara Meverden, Scout.fm

Podcast discovery is much easier and widespread

After the concept of podcasts being a reality now for 10 years, now the technology companies that are hosting and distributing podcasts, like Stitcher, Castbox, iTunes, and Google Podcasts, are paying attention to discovery like never before.  Google is placing podcasts in search results in effort to reach the 51% of American’s who have never listened to a podcast.  They have rolled out a feature where it will make search placement based not only on the episode and show title, but also the content itself.  In other words, based on exactly what was said in the episode.  From there, Alexa (and Siri?) will read extensive paragraphs from podcasts from audio search technology accelerating.

“The market for shorter, bite-sized podcast content will grow, as will podcast consumption on smart speakers.”
Tom Webster, Edison Research

“More shorter-length sub-five-minute podcasts will be made — these work well on smart speakers, and respect listeners’ time. Expect not just news updates in this format, but others, too.”
James Cridland, Podnews

Podcasts are Reaching brand new audiences every day

32% of US population listen to podcasts (its was 26% in 2019)

iHeart Radio is putting up podcasts every Wed. onto 110 radio stations in effort to reach more people who have never down loaded a podcast app on their mobile device.  Alternatively, radio station NPR launched a podcast early on in effort to reach the 25-34 age segment who tend not to ever listen to radio.

A Westwood One 2019 study showed that listening time increased 19% for ages 50-64 between the July 2017 & July 2019 two year time frame.

Industries are more often now helping customers by making podcasts available. Last Sept. Delta Airlines made Spotify podcasts available in flight 700 planes. According to Delta, the partnership with Spotify is an effort to bring new offerings to customers so they can make the most of their “me time” in flight. 

Right before the busy holiday travel season, Jet Blue expanded its in-flight entertainment options with the addition of podcasts. The podcast content will come as part of the airline’s alliance with Spotify, which will put shows created by its Anchor, Gimlet, Parcast and Spotify Studios into the in-flight lineup.

Growth Opportunities

Financial Times has an average listen-through rate of 75% and its 2019 audio ad revenue from podcasts tripled in the past year.  They are expanding their audio podcast programming by testing a subscription only podcast rolling out this month, to see what the market will pay for exclusive subscription only content (kindof like a Loyalty Program).

The first show in this wave is The Rachman Review, which premiered earlier this month. The program is hosted by popular FT columnist Gideon Rachman.

“Consumers start paying for podcasts in a more meaningful way. From Luminary to Stitcher Premium, from Wondery+ to Patreon, consumers will increasingly come to accept that there’s a place for ad-supported and a place for ad-free, consumer-supported podcasts, as they have in nearly every other form of media.”
Hernan Lopez, Wondery

Gender Opportunities - A 2019 study by Edison Research

% 36 women have listened to a podcast in the last month, compared with 39% of men.

women are more likely to be currently defined as ‘rookie’ audience members, or people who have listened to podcasts for six months or less. Women account for 53% of that group, compared with just 37% among the ‘veteran’ group, defined as listening to podcasts for three or more years.

Despite often being newer to the format, women listen to more podcasts per week on average than men. Women spent an average of 7.3 hours listening to podcasts per week, compared with 5.9 hours for men.

Women were more likely to take show recommendations from their friends and family (25% compared with 18% for men). About a fifth (19%) of women found shows based on social media posts, while only 14% of men did. There was also a marked gender divide in discovering shows through Internet searches: 34% for men and just 18% for women.

Advertisers are increasingly putting more ad spend to podcasts.

Forrester: Data shows Podcasting Could Hit $1 Billion In Ad Revenue In 2020.

A May 2019 study by Westwood One called Advertisers Perceptions shows steady growth of Advertisers increasingly putting their dollars to podcast audiences which means there is an audience and targeting is there.

39% are currently advertising in podcasts. That total has grown 2.5 times greater from the inaugural September 2015 result of just 15%.

“The audio industry continues to innovate in response to consumer needs, habits and preferences,” said Frank Papsadore, EVP of marketing for Advertiser Perceptions. “Podcast growth is a clear-cut example. Add to their wide range of topics, new media superstars, and provocative, unedited content – the unprecedented growth of new listening platforms like smart speakers…”

 

Ability for Podcast to help achieve business Goals: BBC StoryWorks, the branded content division of the BBC Global News, commissioned a study by Neuro-Insight researchers into the power of sponsored shows to connect with listeners and achieve business goals.

The Audio:Activated study found that the tendency to engage in other tasks while listening to a podcast increased receptiveness to the company’s messaging. The results showed that nearly all (94%) listeners consume podcasts while doing other activities, with chores at home (61%) and driving (55%) the most common tasks. The active group outperformed its counterpart on all engagement measures, including a 40% higher score on emotional intensity related to the branded show.

The research observed that brand mentions delivered 16% higher engagement and 12% higher memory encoding than the other content in a branded show. These programs also saw an 89% boost in awareness, 57% increase in brand consideration, at a 14% boost to purchase intent. The study noted that branded podcasts posted better metrics in reaching “ad avoiders” than television…..(a category that go out of their way to NOT watch ads).