Takeaways for Marketers: How Brands Found Their Voice with Audio

The audio landscape is changing: Audio is now the most used media on mobile¹, and the share of time spent listening to spoken word is up 30% in the last six years². To help marketers and advertisers explore this growth, and how to make the most of it for their brands, NPR joined the virtual stage at Adweek’s Virtual Series. Read on for the top takeaways from the presentation, and to learn more about the impact NPR delivers for sponsors.

1. Spoken word audio listening keeps growing, faster than music. The share of time spent listening to spoken word audio in the U.S. has increased by 30% over the last six years, while music’s share has decreased by 8%.²
2. Spoken word audio is reaching more diverse audiences. Spoken word audio’s growth is driven by large increases among women, younger listeners, African-Americans and Latinos.²
3. NPR holds a 50-year legacy with spoken word audio. Since 1970, NPR has been honing its craft and building its connection with listeners across platforms from radio to podcasts to voice-activated speakers.
4. Audio listening has shifted with digital platforms driving NPR listening. Streaming listens to NPR stations are +35% YOY, and +19% for smart speakers.³
5. Public media listeners trust NPR programming, especially now. 77% of public radio listeners say they “completely trust” NPR to provide answers and solutions to the coronavirus outbreak (compared to CDC, local government).⁴
6. Podcast attribution is helping podcast advertising grow. Podcast attribution tracking has provided advertisers with a way to compare podcast advertising with other media channels and determine how podcasting can fit into their media mix.
7. NPR sponsors have benefitted from attribution data analyses done over the past year. NPR applies its learnings to all podcast campaigns so sponsors find what podcast strategy works best for them. It works: NPR podcast campaigns drive a 19% lift in awareness according to our internal brand lift studies.
8. Podcast sponsorship across NPR’s programs drives considerable impact and scale for sponsors: NPR podcast campaigns perform 7X better than industry average for digital campaigns with run of network campaigns resulting in a higher average conversion rate.⁶

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Sources

1. eMarketer, US Mobile Time Spent 2020; 2. Spoken word Audio Report 2020; 3. Triton Webcast Metrics, NPR & Member Stations, 3-month average, May – July 2019 vs. 2020; 4. Jacobs Media Coronavirus Survey, May 2020; 5. NPR Listens Panel, sponsor impact studies 2018-2020; 6. NPR Podsights Data, 2020