Below is a landmark co-listening study conducted by Carat and Edison Research—and the results are even better for brands! Let’s get into the five key learnings for marketers in the audio space.
Whether you listen to SiriusXM with your family in the car, throw on Pandora when you’re hosting a backyard BBQ with friends, or choose the perfect comedy podcast to listen to while you prep dinner with your partner, chances are you regularly share audio experiences with others. For brands, that means ads reach—and influence—more listeners. It’s the co-listening factor, which is significantly undercounted in the face value of digital audio.
Thanks to the landmark study conducted by Carat and Edison Research back in 2018, we already know co-listening is a common activity, one that media plans and campaign reports are unable to capture. But is it just us, or does 2018 already feel like a few lifetimes ago? It was time to update that data for Pandora to see where things stood. And this time, they threw podcasts into the mix to uncover first-to-market data on co-listening for this ever-growing medium.
For this year’s study, the A-team of Edison Research and Carat got back together to revisit and refresh the topic. Leveraging the same national online diary study methodology, they increased their sample size to 1,850 Americans ages 13 and older to allow them to dive into both Pandora and podcast listeners.
Let’s get into the five key learnings—and reasons brands shouldn’t sleep on co-listening—from the new study to contextualize just how important co-listening is for marketers in the audio space.
1. Pandora’s Co-Listening Factor is Bigger than Ever
The 2018 study showed us that listeners often have shared audio experiences with Pandora, but, with so many changes in the past few years, we had no idea if or how co-listening has shifted.
They found that just under 4 in 10 Pandora listeners reported any co-listening in their diary day, which is quite consistent with the original study. Looking at who is most likely to co-listen, women, Hispanic Americans, adults 35-54, and parents are more likely to listen with others–almost 6 in 10 parents 25-54 co-listen to Pandora!
Where we did see an incredible shift was in Pandora’s co-listening factor, which factors in how many people are listening at a given time. This new study found that for every 100 paid advertising impressions purchased on Pandora, advertisers receive 52 additional impressions from co-listening. This represents an impressive 15-point increase from 2018.
2. Podcast Co-Listening is Emerging, and May Surprise You
Compared to 2018, podcasts now account for a much greater (and still growing) share of both consumers’ media time and brands’ advertising budgets. Podcasts are traditionally thought of as a solitary activity and there isn’t much data available on what co-listening frequency and behaviors look like there, so we knew that adding them to the study would be valuable data for the marketplace.
We learned that 12% of podcast listeners reported any co-listening during their diary day, and while this is unsurprisingly lower than Pandora co-listening, it’s likely a higher number than most would expect. Women, Hispanic Americans, and parents are more likely to co-listen here as well–1 in 5 parents 25-54 who listen to podcasts do so with others.
When factoring in how many people are listening at a given time, we are now able to share the first-ever co-listening factor for podcasts. We found that for every 100 paid advertising impressions purchased on podcasts, advertisers receive 5 additional impressions from co-listening, which is not trivial.
3. The Car Now Leads for Co-Listening, but the Home is Still Key
While the home was the top location for Pandora co-listening in the original study, this year’s results show the car moving into the #1 position. Just under half of those who listened to Pandora in the car on their diary day were listening with others, up +4 points from 2018. Not only does the car lead for streaming audio co-listening, it came in the #1 position for podcasts as well—16% of those who listened to podcasts in the car on their diary day were listening with others.
Despite the car’s lead in co-listening, the home is still crucial for shared audio experiences. Four in 10 Pandora listeners and 13% of podcast listeners who listened in the home during their diary day were doing so with others. The home is really the cornerstone of our daily lives, and audio is a constant companion that can be our soundtrack, whether we’re listening alone or with others, but more on that later.
Apart from location, we also dug into shared listening by device types. For Pandora, connected devices like smart speakers, connected TVs, and game consoles continue to lead in co-listening–almost half of those who listened to Pandora on connected devices were doing so with others. We did see an interesting shift in mobile; while smartphones are a great device for solo use, they also power shared listening experiences. In fact, over 4 in 10 who listened to Pandora on mobile were listening with others, up by +11 points from 2018. For podcasts, mobile devices came out on top for co-listening.
4. Co-Listening Powers Both Everyday Moments and Special Occasions
Audio content is the perfect companion to our everyday routines, whether we’re listening alone or with others. Given its flexibility and accessibility, digital audio is ripe for multi-tasking moments.
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