The pandemic has boosted several industries, and one of them is the podcast industry . This was already growing before the health crisis broke out, but what this has done is boost its penetration among the population, including the Spanish one.
This is according to the Pod Survey , an analysis of the consumption of audio in Spanish. More than 3,000 active podcast listeners from countries such as Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, the United States, Cuba and Ecuador participated in it.
Of these, the majority only engage in passive listening, with 62.65%. However, 37.35%, that is, one in three people surveyed, said that they also produce their own programme .
Seven out of ten people said that they had increased their podcast listening during the pandemic. This means that 72.9% increased their consumption , while 7.1% said it decreased and 20% said it had remained the same.
The coronavirus has also caused a slight change in the activities that listeners engage in while listening to podcasts. Activities that involve moving around in public, such as walking the pet, going shopping or travelling by public transport, appear in smaller numbers. However, the audiences that have joined in 2021 indicate that rest and exclusive dedication to listening have increased.
In any case, more than half of the people surveyed said they listen to podcasts while doing housework , with 62.2%. Cooking is in second place, with 44%, while walking, working and resting remain in the top 5, with 39.3%, 37.1% and 35.5%.
Mobile phones and tablets continue to be the preferred devices for listening , with more than 80%. Next are computers and smart speakers.
It is worth noting that in this edition, compared to previous ones, the percentage of mobile lebanon number data device use has slightly decreased and the number of those who prefer to listen on their computers and smart speakers has increased. In fact, the latter option has risen to 2.2% from 0% in 2017.
These devices, unlike smartphones, are linked to ways of listening anchored to physical spaces, such as the home or workplace.
The most selected platform to choose podcasts is Spotify , with 75.3%. In the previous edition, iVoox was the second most used, but this time it is occupied by YouTube (24.9%) and remains in third place with 17.8%. However, in Spain it is still the favorite, with 70%. A notable case is Argentina, where Spotify accounts for 90.9% of podcast listening.
The audience is renewed and new listeners are arriving to the platforms
The majority of respondents started listening to podcasts in the last two and a half years (40%) , a trend that has continued since previous editions of the Pod Survey. This may show that audiences are updating and growing.
77% will consider making a payment or donation to their favorite podcast. That same percentage used the option to “follow” or “subscribe” to a podcast and receive a notification every time a new episode is published.
The more hours per week people spend watching podcasts, the higher the proportion of those who choose to follow or subscribe to podcasts they like. 39% are willing to listen to an ad without skipping it, and more than 40% believe that listening to an ad is unlikely to lead to a call to action such as purchasing a product.