UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC MEDIA S MOST ENGAGED podcast users

Transcription

1 UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC MEDIA S MOST ENGAGED podcast users

2 Executve summary We know that audences for news and nformaton are movng toward dgtal, moble news sources. Accordng to Pew Research, 43% of adults often get news onlne, tralng only TV (53%) and most adults (85%) get news from a moble devce at least some of the tme. 1 Understandng ths audence s essental for news organzatons local and natonal that hope to grow and sustan thrvng audences for news. Yet lttle s known about the preferences and habts of ths emergng audence, more orented around dgtal, moble content and consumpton. In Aprl and May of 2017, Edson Research wth support from the John S. and James L. Knght Foundaton conducted a seres of onlne ntervews wth podcast lsteners across a group of major podcast publshers. We collected a total of 28,964 ntervews wth podcast lsteners 18 years of age or older, all of whom lstened to at least one audo podcast from one of sx networks: NPR, PRI, APM, WBUR, PRX and Gmlet. (For more on the methodology, please see the appendx.) In comparng these results wth the Edson/Trton Infnte Dal research seres, a natonally representatve telephone survey of meda habts, a portrat emerged of what appears to be the podcastng super lstener a hghly engaged consumer of nformatve dgtal audo content. Some of the characterstcs of ths super lstener nclude: Much greater levels of content consumpton (by hours and by shows lstened to). A preference for subscrpton and tme-shfted consumpton. Relance on moble consumpton, usually n transt. A wllngness to evangelze content, and relance on word-of-mouth. A preference for n-depth content. A loyalty to publc meda, and wllngness to nvest even as broadcast consumpton levels declne. 1 Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 2

3 1 hs ~ 4 hs 10 or more hs 1 hs ~ 4 hs 10 or more hs 1 hs ~ 4 hs 20% total 10 or more hs 40% total 22% Age hs ~ 4 hs 38% Age or more hs 25% Age hs ~ 4 hs 36% Age or more hs 17% Age % Age % Age % Age podcast lstenng n a typcal week THE SUPER LISTENER CONSUMES TWICE THE CONTENT Some of the bggest dfferences between respondents to ths survey and the podcast lsteners we have sampled n prevous representatve surveys are n ther consumpton behavors. Weekly podcast lsteners n the Knght sample consumed just over 10 hours of podcast content per week, compared to a lttle over fve hours per week reported n our Infnte Dal data. The average number of shows lstened to per week was much hgher wth Knght respondents (13) than wth weekly podcast lsteners from the Infnte Dal (5). Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 3

4 1 THE SUPER LISTENER prefers a subscrpton-based and tme-shfted consumpton 1 45% Download Podcast manually and lsten later 53% Clck on Podcast and Lsten mmedately 81% Subscrbe to podcast and download automatcally to lsten later The domnant modalty for podcast consumpton also dffered. In ths project, 81% of respondents told us that they subscrbe to podcasts and download automatcally to lsten later sgnfcantly hgher than the other two modaltes of lstenng (clck and lsten mmedately; download manually and lsten later). Ths statstc dffered greatly from both our Infnte Dal data and the natonal onlne panel sample we conducted wth one of the Knght partners ths year, both of whch showed subscrpton behavor thrd, wth clck and lsten mmedately as the domnant modalty. These data ponts (hours/shows per week, lstenng modalty) can be nferred to be ndcatve of a key dfference between the Knght respondents and those surveyed n the other research we have done: respondents to audo callouts are much more lkely to be super lsteners consumng more content, more lkely to subscrbe, and also more lkely to have been lstenng to podcasts for longer than the average podcast consumer. So, whle the Knght data does dffer from our prevous, more representatve work n the medum, t can be understood to be descrptve of the podcast super lstener, a far more actve, engaged lstener who has a deeper relatonshp wth the show(s) they responded to. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 4

5 69% on the go (vehcle, gym, publc transportaton, etc) 93% smartphone 39% COMPUTER 17% tablet 10% pod OR mp3 player 7% VOICE-enableD speaker 31% At home 3. THE SUPER LISTENER prefers moble content, and lstens on the go Ths actve audence s ncredbly moble: 93% say they lsten to podcasts va smartphone, wth 84% ndcatng that s ther prmary means of lstenng to podcasts. Ths dffers somewhat from both our natonal data and some other publc meda data we have collected over the years, whch shows somewhat hgher desktop/laptop/web lstenng. Ths s also consstent wth the average ages of these podcast lsteners compared to the average age of publc meda broadcast lsteners n general, who are far more lkely to smply go to the web page(s) of publc meda organzatons and lsten drectly on the web than they are to use a moble podcast clent. Ths moble-frst mentalty for the super lstener s reflected n the lstenng by locaton data. For Knght respondents, the prmary lstenng locaton s at home (31%), followed by n a vehcle (23%) and at work (19%). Ths dffers sgnfcantly from our Infnte Dal data, whch shows at home as 52%, n a vehcle at 18%, and at work at 12%. Lstenng n other out-of-home envronments (out walkng, publc transportaton) was also much hgher wth the Knght respondents. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 5

6 THE SUPER LISTENER Is a loyal evangelst 4% no 96% yes HAVE YOU EVER RECOMMENDED A PODCAST TO A FRIEND? Fnally, the super lstener s a compellng advocate for the medum tself. Fully 96% sad they had recommended a podcast to frend. Word of mouth was the prmary means for podcast dscovery for these respondents, wth just over half sayng the prmary means by whch they learned about new podcasts were recommendatons from hosts or frends and famly. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 6

7 ORDER OF INTEREST IN NEWS COVERAGE natonal news nternatonal news local news preference OF IN-depth segments on podcasts 41% Prefer fewer segments that each go nto greater depth 5. THE SUPER LISTENER prefers n-depth content In general, our respondents were much more nterested n natonal news (7.5 on a 1-10 scale) and nternatonal news (7.1) than n local news (5.6). Whle there was a stronger preference for fewer stores/greater depth (41%) than a wde varety of shorter segments (10%), approxmately half of these respondents had no preference. Among the average of 13 programs that weekly respondents consumed, an average of four featured local, natonal or nternatonal news. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 7

8 47% lsten only as podcast 32% lsten to podcast and on the rado, but more often as podcast 4% lsten to podcast and on the rado equally 5% lsten to podcast and on the rado, but more often on rado 2% you only lsten to the program on the rado 6. 10% don t lsten to any programs that are podcast and on the rado rado THE SUPER LISTENER ncreasngly prefers dgtal consumpton over broadcast podcast These respondents are also more lkely to be podcast-frst lsteners to audo content. When asked how they would lkely lsten to a program released both on the rado AND as a podcast, 47% ndcated they would lsten only as a podcast and 32% sad more often as a podcast. More than four n 10 respondents ndcated that they were lstenng less to AM/FM rado as a result of podcasts, so ths podcast-frst mentalty s not surprsng. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 8

9 VERY TRUSTWORTHY natonal newspapers socal meda cable TV news Network TV news news webstes local newspapers rado podcast 7. 1% 3% 10% 13% 20% 30% 33% 35% THE SUPER LISTENER trusts dgtally-dstrbuted audo content Fnally, n one of the more sgnfcant fndngs of ths study, these super lsteners place a great deal of trust n the content they hear on podcasts. We compared a varety of meda channels by ther trustworthness, and podcasts were ndcated by 33% to be very trustworthy and 49% as somewhat trustworthy. Ths level of trust was nearly ted wth the frst place medum (natonal newspapers) and ahead of rado and local newspapers. Network TV news, cable TV news and socal meda were the bottom three n terms of trustworthness. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 9

10 $ $ $ $ 8. Donatons n the past 12 months: A publc rado staton outsde your local area $ A podcast or rado staton drectly Your publc rado staton 10% 28% 32% opnons of podcasts produced/supported by publc meda: 2% 15% 32% 51% enjoy lstenng to non-publc meda podcast more than publc can t tell dfference between publc and non-publc meda podcast enjoy lstenng to publc meda podcasts more than non equally enjoy lstenng to publc and non-publc meda podcast AGNOSTIC ABOUT PUBLIC VS NON-PUBLIC MEDIA THE SUPER LISTENER and publc meda: Fnancal loyalty ntact; future loyalty uncertan G ven the provenance of these respondents, t was unsurprsng to see how many publc meda podcasts they lstened to. From the average number of weekly shows reported (13), these respondents beleved that sx were produced or supported by publc meda. Despte the fact that self-reported rado lstenng s down wth these respondents as a result of podcast lstenng, two-thrds ndcated that they have lstened to ther local publc rado staton n the last month. Ths actve publc rado consumpton also translated to hgher levels of altrusm toward publc meda. Nearly one-thrd ndcated that they had donated money n the last year to ther local publc rado staton, and 28% had donated to a podcast or rado program drectly. However, despte the sgnfcant amount of publc meda lstenng and support among these respondents, there s not necessarly a unversal halo effect for publc meda podcasts. 51% sad they lke publc and nonpublc meda podcasts equally, and another 15% ndcated that they couldn t tell the dfference. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 10

11 Concluson Ths study, and our ablty to compare t wth two other, more representatve datasets of podcast consumers, gave us a fascnatng perspectve on the publc meda podcast super lstener. It s clear that whle they don t represent the body of podcast lsteners across partcpatng publshers, they do represent the most actve, most engaged and most wllng to take supportve actons. They can also be tapped as ambassadors for the medum. Fndng ways to ask for the order and provdng them wth ncentves to share new podcasts (and ndeed, the medum n general) wth ther frends and famly as passonate advocates and nfluencers mght be one of the most powerful marketng tools at our dsposal. We also learned that these respondents are receptve to natonal and nternatonal news content va podcasts, and they trust ths content agan, as potental advocates for the dssemnaton of ths content. And fnally, these younger, more moble podcast consumers are takng content (ncludng publc meda content) on the road wth them openng up contextual opportuntes for new forms of content for consumers on publc transt, at the gym, or n other short, opportunstc wndows. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 11

12 Appendx We collected a total of 28,964 ntervews wth podcast lsteners 18 years of age or older, all of whom lstened to at least one audo podcast from one of sx networks: NPR, PRI, APM, WBUR, PRX, and Gmlet. Respondents were solcted through audo callouts (solctatons typcally done by the hosts) on the podcasts of these sx networks. We used the actual download numbers for the podcasts and networks that were ncluded n ths project to weght the data, ensurng that each network was represented approprately n the fnal dataset. In the course of ths project, we nvestgated the lstenng habts and perceptons of podcast lsteners to understand ther behavors and motvatons. Samples of convenence, such as the one employed n ths project, often dffer from samples derved from telephone research and onlne panels. We were fortunate to have comparatve data from both the Edson/Trton Infnte Dal research seres (a natonally representatve telephone survey of meda habts) and an onlne panel survey from one of the sx network partners that was conducted at the same tme as the Knght-supported survey. As a result, we not only have a compellng pcture of the audence for these podcast networks, but also an nvaluable comparson of the podcast lstener who responds to ths form of audo callout survey to those recruted through tradtonal means. In general, there were very few dfferences between the lsteners of each of the varous partner publc meda podcast networks ndeed, there was sgnfcant overlap between them all. Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 12

13 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: 200 S. BISCAYNE BLVD, SUITE 3300 MIAMI, FL Understandng Publc Meda s Most Engaged Podcast Users 13