From Super Listeners to Podfasters: The Other Listening Trends You Should Know
When we report on the latest podcast stats, we’re typically referring to the average listener. Someone who listens casually a few times a month, weekly, or listens to 5 or 6 pods a week. But there are sub-sets of podcast listeners you may not be aware of. These listeners aren’t satisfied with consuming just 5 podcasts a week. They tell all their friends about the shows they should be listening to. They’re not just obsessed with the medium, they’re uber-engaged.
“Super listeners” were highlighted in a new study conducted by Edison Research and the Knight Foundation. They found that this highly-active group consumes twice the content when compared to other studies — 10 hours versus 5 hours of weekly listening. The average number of shows listened to also spikes to 13 rather than the 5 as reported in the Infinite Dial.
In addition to consuming more content, “super listeners” are loyal to the pods they follow. 81% of the respondents choose to subscribe for time-shifted listening. When they’re listening is more likely to be when they’re on-the-go. 69% are choosing to listen in the car, at the gym, or while commuting. “Super listeners” also identify themselves as evangelists for the medium. 96% have recommended podcasts to their friends.
Though the focus of this particular study targets the public media arena and targets individuals who are already more inclined to engage, these findings have universal implications. Among all those who have ever listened to a podcast, there’s a core population of die-hard listeners consuming more content than average and engaging on a deeper level.
But there’s yet another group of extreme listeners out there that a recent BuzzFeed article coined as “podfasters”. Individuals who consume podcasts at accelerated rates, digesting hours and hours of content in record time. Some want to be able to catch-up on a show’s back catalog. Others find speeding up allows them to comprehend the audio better. Whatever their reasoning may be, it goes to show that these individuals are hungry for this content.
“But in conversations with people who listen at speeds higher than 2x, it became clear that many podfasters are above all, completists. That is, they have an almost obsessive need to listen to every episode of a podcast that they decide to commit to.”
There’s concern though on whether this listening trend or the ability to speed up podcasts at all, is good for the industry. The case can be made that when listening is sped up, attention goes up as well. Casual listening is tough when audio is increased to 3x, 2x, even 1.5x the normal speed and requires much focus on the consumer’s side. This is good news for brands for two reasons. One, more active listening ensures your ad was heard. Second, the less time spent listening means they are less likely to skip an ad.
Although these “super listeners” and “podfasters” represent a small niche, they are still important to understand, helping us paint a whole picture of the podcast listening universe.
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