Podcasting Plots to Retain New Listeners Post-Pandemic By Embracing Niche Topics, New Promotional Strategies

The enterprise of podcasting appears to have confirmed immune to the detrimental impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. 
The {industry} has seen a rise in listenership, in accordance to Morning Consult development information and insights from {industry} leaders, which incorporates new listeners discovering the medium for the primary time, in addition to present followers listening to podcasts extra ceaselessly. Advertisers have caught on and maintained a rising curiosity within the medium all through the pandemic.

Podcasting is a “sticky medium,” mentioned Jason Saldanha, chief of enterprise growth and content material at PRX, a non-profit audio firm liable for distributing titles equivalent to “TED Talks Daily” and “The Moth Radio Hour,” so many executives anticipate that new listeners will stick round.
But as vaccines turn into extra extensively out there and the nation prepares to return to its new regular this 12 months, podcast firms are however getting ready methods to maintain onto these listeners who grew to become invested through the pandemic: embracing area of interest matters, signing on extra celebrities and increasing their advertising.

Roughly one-quarter (22 %) of U.S. adults mentioned they’re listening to podcasts extra due to social distancing and stay-at-home habits, in accordance to a Morning Consult survey performed March 23-26, 2021, a slight uptick in contrast to 18 % who mentioned the identical when Morning Consult requested in March 2020.
About 1 in 3 Americans (32 %) mentioned they now hear to podcasts a minimum of as soon as every week, in accordance to the latest survey. When requested to mirror on their pre-pandemic listening habits, 26 % mentioned they streamed podcasts a minimum of weekly. 
Those figures are reflective of inside information at main podcasting firms and, notably, buck seasonal traits which often see lulls in the summertime and winter vacation months.

PRX, which usually sees greater than 70 million downloads per 30 days, noticed downloads enhance by 33 % from 2019 to 2020 for a complete of greater than 1 billion downloads, mentioned Chief Marketing Officer Donna Hardwick. In November, that enhance was 54 %, and 29 % in December.
Wonder Media Network, an impartial podcast firm that creates instructional content material surrounding social justice matters, noticed downloads stay excessive in August, usually a low month when it comes to downloads industry-wide, mentioned co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Shira Atkins, with many listeners and creators vacationing.
The community’s “Encyclopedia Womannica” present, for instance, noticed listenership enhance by 40 % 12 months over 12 months from August 2019 to August 2020, Atkins mentioned.
Although podcast firms have roughly tailored to listeners’ new consumption habits, adjusting their content material, manufacturing and promotion methods, summer time and fall of 2021 will doubtless carry one more shift in client habits.

Niche podcasts are one key space for progress. The style, which highlights pursuits equivalent to gardening and baking, noticed a spike in curiosity through the pandemic, and firms are betting that this area might be an space for alternative.
That’s the case for iHeartMedia Inc., a radio large and one of many largest publishers of podcasts, which additionally noticed progress in each podcasts about area of interest matters and throughout its general community. It was up to 30 million distinctive listeners final month alone, a document for the corporate, mentioned Hetal Patel, iHeartMedia’s govt vp of company analysis and analytics.
The firm is gearing up to launch a slate of journey exhibits as that {industry} rebounds, as an illustration, with some fronted by unknown creators dwelling in attention-grabbing locations and others led by celebrities.
“We need to be there if podcasting strikes into increasingly area of interest genres,” mentioned Conal Byrne, chief govt of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group.
The movie star podcast can be right here to keep, executives agreed, with A-list celebrities equivalent to Bruce Springsteen — who now hosts a present with former President Barack Obama — and Demi Lovato signing on in 2021 to get behind the mic, and much more who launched podcasts in 2020.
Saldanha mentioned that whereas celebrity-led podcasts drive visibility for the {industry}, not all of them are of the very best quality. PRX plans to marry entry to Hollywood expertise that got here on account of the pandemic with its manufacturing and storytelling capabilities to have interaction audiences shifting ahead, he mentioned.
iHeartMedia, which has been within the movie star podcasts recreation since earlier than the pandemic, partnering with the likes of Will Ferrell and Shonda Rhimes, additionally plans to proceed recruiting A-listers for audio tasks, Byrne mentioned.

And whereas youngsters’ podcasts boomed through the pandemic, Rob Walch, vp of podcaster relations at Libsyn, a podcast platform that hosts greater than 75,000 exhibits, predicted that older audiences will enhance their listening once they return to their workplaces, presenting alternatives for podcasters who can goal that demographic.
“It’s more durable to hear at residence to a podcast than it’s once you’re by yourself,” Walch mentioned. “You’re not going to hear to ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ together with your youngsters within the room.”
To assuage client demand, podcasters throughout the board have elevated their output, consultants mentioned, shortly crowding {the marketplace} up to now 12 months. 
“The quantity of content material has by no means been greater, however we’re nonetheless combating for less than 5 or 6 slots within the common listener’s playlist,” mentioned Will Malnati, chief govt of At Will Media, an impartial podcast studio that creates branded podcasts for companions together with Netflix Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. 
As podcasting continues to more and more overlap with different digital mediums, with film stars taking to audio and TV collection investing in official companion podcasts, the {industry} is trying to develop its advertising and promotion methods to totally different platforms.
For large networks equivalent to iHeartMedia, it’s pretty simple to “use all of our advertising firepower to shout very loudly” about new exhibits, Byrne mentioned. For the small and mid-sized podcast firms that account for such a big portion of the {industry}, nonetheless, standing out takes a bit extra calculation and planning. In the post-pandemic period, many of those firms are leaning into social media advertising. 

At PRX, Hardwick’s workforce is exploring alternatives on audio platforms equivalent to Clubhouse and expects to roll out content material there someday this summer time. 
Jessica Cordova Kramer, co-founder and chief govt of Lemonada Media, mentioned selling exhibits on Instagram has confirmed profitable, and that the corporate will proceed to analyze traits on the platform to optimize its campaigns as client habits modifications.
“I count on when folks return to work, our social content material may want to go up at totally different instances if folks aren’t continually on-line anymore,” Kramer mentioned. “Right now, individuals are listening to podcasts every time then can, however we count on when folks begin going again to a commute, these numbers will fluctuate extra all through the day.”
While particular listening habits may change but once more, it’s not going that new podcast followers will abandon the medium or the exhibits they’ve found up to now 12 months anytime quickly.
“Avid podcast listeners have solely discovered new alternatives to hear to podcasts that’ll doubtless final and develop past the pandemic,” mentioned Veronika Taylor, managing director for the Americas on the podcast firm Acast. “And that doesn’t even cowl all the brand new listeners that podcasts have adopted over the previous 12 months.”

You May Also Like

About the Author: Amanda