What is spoken audio? Well, it's any audio content that is not music. Podcasts, radios, books... spoken audio takes many forms. To help you get familiar with the habits of the people who consume it, here are its statistics around the world.
Digital audio figures
Listening to digital audio means that the content is online. This type of audio has a much stronger impact on the brain than radio:
- Emotion is better perceived (+25% emotional intensity)
- Memorizes more easily (+25% overall memory)
- significantly increases the engagement rate (+23% engagement)
Digital audio is so popular, listeners are willing to pay for it: nearly1 in 2 Americans pay for an audio subscription. In addition, the average American adult listens to digital audio for 1 hour and 34 minutes a day. Even children are consuming this type of audio in the U.S.: 73% of those over 12 years old are listening to audio online this month. In Australia, the figure is 71%.
Who are the people listening to the audio?
On a daily basis , 45% of Americans over the age of 13 listen to spoken word content on a daily basis. They listen for an average of 2 hours and 6 minutes per day.
Spoken word audio has grown significantly in recent years, with 51% of Americans who consume spoken word audio reporting that they are listening to more of it than they were 5 years ago.
It is important to know that :
- Americans ages 13-34 spend 26% of their digital listening time on spoken audio
- For Americans aged 34-54, this figure rises to 30%.
- For Americans 55 and older, spoken audio accounts for 28% of their digital listening time
Why do people like listening to spoken audio?
For 71% of users, the main reason they like spoken audio is that it allows them tomultitask.
Of course, there are others like :
- Enable to process information more easily (60%)
- Prefer to listen rather than read (56%)
- A need to stay informed (52%)
For this same panel of people:
- 54% say spoken audio engages their minds in a more positive way than other media
- 55% of them say that spoken audio is becoming more and more important in their lives
Where and how do listeners hear spoken audio?
Americans listen to various types of spoken audio:
- AM/FM radio (48%)
- Podcasts (22%)
- Audio books (10%)
- Other platforms (20%)
Moreover, they consume them in different places:
- At home (54%)
- In the car (30%)
- At work (13%)
- Elsewhere (3%)
59% of the U.S. population says they have used internet search to discover new spoken word audio content.
Audio and information
By 2022, 80% of news leaders plan to devote significantly more resources to digital audio and podcasts. By the way, did you know? In the U.S., news/information is the most popular spoken audio topic (56% of users listen to it).
In addition, you should know that news podcasts represent only 7% of all podcasts recorded. However, among the top podcasts in the U.S., they represent 30% of them.
Podcast figures
Traditional media are seeing their audience with young people decline. Among Millennials and Generation Z 40% of them trust podcasts more than traditional media.
Today, there are millions of episodes available worldwide. On Apple Podcasts alone, as of June 2022, there are over 67.4 million episodes.
Last month, 34% of the world's population listened to at least 1 podcast:
- 37% in the United States
- 52% in South Korea
- 44% in Sweden
- 25% in the UK
- 29% in France
- 34% in Argentina
- 33% in Australia
- 41% in Spain
- 33% in Singapore
Although podcasts are very popular with young people, all age groups consume them. For example, in the United States, the share of monthly podcast listeners is :
- 47% for 12-34 year olds
- 33% for 35-54 year olds
- 20% for those over 55 years old
Figures on audio articles*.
"Audio formats are one of the best ways to tell a story"; that's what 69% of millennials and 61% of Gen Zers say.
"Audio amplifies far more perspectives than traditional media"; that's what 52% of Gen Zers and 62% of millennials think.
It can be said that the audio article greatly attracts the interest and curiosity of users:
- There are 32% more likely to engage in multiple sessions than a non-auditor.
- Those who do not listen to audio articles do not spend an average of 30 seconds there. Whilelisteners stay on average 322 seconds (+973%).
- 35-54 year olds who start the audiostay on the page 9 times longer than those who do not
- Those over 55 who press play visit 1.5 times more pages than those who do not
*Audio article statistics of the BeyondWords AI site
Figures on audio books
A survey in the UK shows that 44% of adults listen to audio books in their free time. 27% of them consume them at least once a week. Among these people:
- 72% say that listening stimulates their brain
- 70% say that listening to a book makes them feel less stressed
- 67% say that listening makes them feel better when they are depressed
In the United States, in 2021, 54% of the population over the age of 12 listens to an audiobook. Among this panel of people, 38% subscribe to an audiobook service.
According to employed listeners, the main benefits of audiobooks are:
- Listening to the narrative (26%)
- Time saving and accessibility (26%)
They also claim to listen to audio books when they :
- Are by car (31%)
- Do housework or DIY (25%)
- Engage in physical activity (18%)
- Walk (10%)
Radio figures
In the UK, radio is a very popular medium. 89% of the population listen to it every week on average for 20.2 hours.
In Ireland, 80% of adults listen to the radio every day. On average, they listen to the radio for 13.1 million hours.
In the United States, 80% of adults listen to the radio every week. That's an average of 12.2 hours of listening per week per person.
In eight international markets, 77% of the population listened to the radio last week.
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