With behaviour shifting, the audio market’s growth offers a unique environment for brands to stay top of mind with consumers. While consumers are settling into their new routines of life at home, consumption habits are shifting dramatically across digital channels.
For the first time in history, we are seeing a decline in live TV viewership during a crisis. Typically, natural disasters or public crises are a driving force behind rising time spent with live TV, but not in this instance. In its place, consumers are turning to mobile now more than ever to stay connected and informed through social media, radio, and podcasts.
For podcasts, in particular, downloads are up. The industry saw the highest number of downloads within a five-day period in mid-March. Listeners have shifted categories and are spending more time with news programs, resulting in a 30% increase in downloads. Contrary to typical podcast listening trends, a majority of podcast listening is now occurring throughout the day instead of primarily during commuting hours.
There is also a shift in content focus to fit the current state. Podcast genre choice reflects listeners’ attitudes towards the world around them. We’re seeing that users are focusing their podcast listening time on self-improvement and spirituality. Within the first two weeks of March, Italy experienced enormous growth in those two topics as religion and spirituality podcasts were up 1500%, and self-improvement podcasts increased 500%.
It’s no secret that people turn to music in tough times. For some radio stations, their digital listeners grew by 21%. Breaking this down further, the increases were down to 30% among the top 3 smart home speaker listeners (Alexa, Google Home, and Sonos), 20% for those listening via the web, and 23% listening through smart TVs. And it’s not just the content that’s benefitting, it’s the people as well. Based on a recent study, 88% of people reported that music improves their mood, 89% said music relaxes them, 85% said music makes them happy, and 74% said music motivates them.
As consumers are turning to audio to pass the time, brands need to reassess their marketing strategies to leverage these mediums.
Here are a few thought starters for brands to consider as they look to embrace audio:
- Develop an audio content strategy that demonstrates awareness and sensitivity of the current climate and consumer mindset.
- Offer consumers value as they look to escape and unplug. Be willing to try new targeting strategies while also being agile with messaging sensitive to the current environment.
With consumption behaviour shifting and engagement rates surging, the audio market’s growth offers a unique environment for brands to stay top of mind and further drive consideration amongst consumers. And while the current climate is a challenging one, the brands that deliver successfully against the new consumer expectations will position themselves for strong growth after the crisis.
