Podcast: a growing phenomenon in Italy

Podcasts have arrived in Italy as well: among the 90% of digital Italians who know Podcasts, 39% say they know them well and, within them, the share of frequent listeners (listening daily or at least once or more times a week) amounts to 64%. From their profiles, it seems that Italian podcast listeners are  slightly more males and tend to be younger.

Among the platforms in Italy, Spotify is currently the most used for listening (67%), followed at a great distance by sites of authors or newspapers (29%), by Apple Music (25%) and by Audible (21 %). Smartphone (67% Smartphone vs 23% of the PC) is the main tool used to listen to Podcasts, but smart speakers are emerging (10%).

People usually listen to podcasts during three main moments during the day, with a peak during the afternoon. More importantly, listening to Podcasts turns out to be a multitasking activity for 63% of users, who listen to them while doing other activities. The remaining 37%, on the other hand, fully dedicate their time to the Podcast, which becomes in these cases a product for pure entertainment.

When building a Podcast, the utmost attention must be paid to the first few minutes of it. In fact, in order to understand if a Podcast is the right one, one out of two listeners only takes a few minutes from the start of the first episode. Very few listeners (12%) try to listen to more episodes if they are not convinced after the first one.

In order to be found and chosen by listeners, podcasts need to be easily found on different platforms as well – such as in the users’ feed, in the recommendation mechanisms and in the rankings – and on the search engines.

The ideal duration of an episode is maximum 45 minutes, with a clear preference for 30 (43%) or 15 minutes (31%); on the other hand, for the release of a new episode users wait maximum one week.

But what do people prefer to listen to? Personal interests and entertainment are the main drivers in choosing a Podcast, but interestingly there is an important share of people – especially among the under 35s – who choose Podcasts to learn more about their own profession. Speaking about training, it is interesting to note how Spotify keeps investing in new constant updates of SPOTIFY KIDS (not available in Italy yet), which supports families and occupies a future central role of educator for children, comments Antonio Filoni, Partner & Head of Digital and Innovation.

In addition, advertising while listening to a Podcast is something that people remember easily: 80% of listeners remember the advertising content included in a Podcast, with a less invasive presence than other media.

The interest in Branded Podcast projects is very high: 81% of those who listen to Podcasts would be willing to use a Podcast produced by a company if the topic is of interest. Moreover, highly appreciated (75%) is also the advertising related to the topic of the Podcast itself (addressable adv).

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