How podcasts offer new audiences during the pandemic
Brands and organizations that create content-rich podcasts can transport their audiences out of COVID-land, earning their deep trust and loyalty in the process.
The pandemic has changed every aspect of the way we communicate—narrowing and expanding channels as the weeks and months in quarantine slog on. Such is certainly the case with podcasts.
With many people eliminating their commutes to work and skipping the gym—two popular places for podcast listening—podcasts initially saw their audiences dwindle when COVID-19 descended. But the number of podcast listeners has recently bounced back to pre-COVID levels, and devotees of this content-rich platform are demonstrating that they’re hungry for new shows.
In late July, Spotify announced a modest increase in the number of podcast listeners on its platform, yet the amount of content they’re listening to more than doubled. A recent Edison Research survey found that throughout the second quarter in 2020, weekly podcast listeners on average consumed up to 6 hours and 45 minutes of podcast content per week. That’s about a half hour increase over the previous quarter. Edison Research also reports podcasts now reach nearly 100 million Americans every month. Simply put, the audience for podcasts is growing and more engaged than ever.
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