In the first days of the outbreak, we quickly began tracking listening behavior on Voxnest's audience network because we noticed that some podcast listener behaviors were changing during the coronavirus period. Especially with the effective presence of Voxnest Spreaker (a podcast production platform accessible on the Voxnest site) in Italy and Spain, we knew we could obtain good data because these two countries were the first Western countries to enter lockdown.
Overall listening changes
In March, in Italy we first saw 10 percent growth, and then at the end of April we saw very large global growth. Podcast playback during the coronavirus period increased 42 percent worldwide and this growth rate was 53 percent in Europe. Italy and Spain, as the two countries that first entered lockdown, saw listener growth rates of 29 and 25 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, in the United States we are seeing a 20 percent decline, although some categories saw significant growth.
Changes in the categories of interest to listeners
In the first review in March, the spirituality and religion (1,576 percent growth) and self-improvement (484 percent growth) categories attracted a great deal of attention in Italy. The books, comedy, games and entertainment, sports, and current events categories also saw growth in the United States, Italy, and Spain. It is clear that listeners were using podcasts either to gather more information about the outbreak or as a way to distract themselves from it.
As the situation improved, the listening behaviors of Italian, Spanish, and American listeners also changed. It appeared that people around the world were moving toward entertainment, learning, and podcasts for enjoyment. It is also worth noting the growth of interest in music-related podcasts in the United States (three of the top 10 categories were related to music). While this outbreak has not yet ended, and since lockdown has ended in some countries, listening behaviors are returning to their pre-lockdown state.
| Popular podcasts in different countries | ||
| Italy | United States | Spain |
| True crime | Design | Science |
| Fiction | Food | Health and fitness |
| Self-improvement | Music interviews | Politics |
| Kids and family | Food | Society and culture |
| Comedy | Music history | Comedy |
Change in the devices used for podcasts
Regarding the devices used by consumers, it is clear that people are listening to podcasts at home and sometimes doing so as a family. Desktop computers (58 percent growth), mobile phones and tablets (32 percent growth), television (28 percent growth), smart speakers (11 percent growth), and smartwatches (11 percent growth) have had the fastest growth in the past 5 months.
Portuguese- and Spanish-language podcasts flourish
Since late 2018, an upward line in Spanish-language podcast production has been observed by Voxnest. In the first 5 months of this year, the number of monthly active Spanish-language podcasts grew 94 percent. Another non-English podcast production category that has grown rapidly is Portuguese. With growth even greater than Spanish-language podcasts, Portuguese-language podcasts grew 103 percent from January to May of this year. In the same vein, Voxnest Spreaker has become actively involved in the Portugal and Brazil communities. Given this, it is no surprise that 4 Portuguese-speaking countries have been placed among the 10 leading countries in podcast production. The list below shows the 10 leading countries in podcast production.
- Brazil
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Colombia
- Italy
- Mexico
- Spain
- Poland
- New Zealand
- United States
The main use of podcasts: transmitting information in a short time
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that everything can change in a moment. In 2020 many events occurred in the world, among them the Black protests in America. Brief condolences and short news segments do not meet people's demand for the dissemination of information and for understanding new perspectives on these events. A larger medium is needed to express the depth of these complex subjects, and since films, series, and books are not produced quickly (in fact, books that have existed on anti-racism have completely sold out and there is demand for reprints of them), podcasts have found an opportunity to shine.
Because of the nature of podcasts, good conversations and stories can be recorded in only a few days and, after editing, shared. Of course this does not mean that making podcasts is easy. Podcasts have made possible the rapid passing of information from hand to hand. NPR's Code Switch, which has been published weekly since 2016 on racial issues, has reached the top ranking of Apple podcasts. Also, other existing podcasts such as Armchair Podcast follow their regular scheduling and invite specialists in Black racial relations for interviews. Armchair Expert is not the only podcast that has seen growth in this period. Probably one of the main reasons for the growth of podcast followers is the growth of listeners in the society and culture category by 46 percent since the start of the new year.
The Code Switch podcast on Black issues has seen a significant growth in listeners.
In addition to these topics being addressed by older podcasts, a new wave of newly launched podcasts dedicated to these issues has also begun, such as Stand Up For Black Lives, Silence is Not An Option, and Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay, which are only a few of this group of podcasts.
The impact of coronavirus on content production
Just as in the previous section, we have also seen large growth in podcasts related to the coronavirus. Despite this quantitative increase in the publication of podcasts, in the early period of the virus's spread we saw a decline in the quality of podcasts. The cause of this quality decline should be sought in remote work and the recording of podcasts in a space outside the studio. Of course, with the passage of time we saw the quality of podcast recording rise again.
On the other hand, with people being quarantined at home, the creativity of those who were trying to take their minds off the present issue flourished. In the months of February and March, Spreaker, Voxnest's dedicated podcast hosting product, saw 75 percent growth in sign-ups for its popular programs. In Italy alone, sign-ups almost doubled. While the growth rate has remained constant since then, this period of time spent at home has certainly added new podcast makers to this field.
The top 5 categories to which the largest number of podcasts were devoted in the first 5 months of 2020:
- Education
- Arts
- Society and culture
- Music
- Health and fitness
The future of podcasts in the coronavirus period
Taking these points into account, one can grasp the highly positive effects of coronavirus on the podcast industry. The coronavirus disease has had a strikingly positive impact on industries that help people stay at home. Although podcasts in the coronavirus period experienced a drop in quality, the speed of information transmission in podcasts is certainly this industry's competitive advantage. In any case one must stay at home, and what better than listening to engaging podcasts!
Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian