Reasons Why Brands Should Consider Audio Marketing Amid Life at Home

As consumers are settling into their new lives at home, consumption habits are changing drastically across digital mediums. Typically during crises like these, viewers are compelled to stick to their televisions for the latest news updates.

However, this time there was a decline in live TV viewers. More and more people have started switching to mobile phones to stay connected. They are receiving information via social media, podcasts, and radio.

Now that is pretty much a big change.

Choice of Genre Reflects the Attitude of Listeners

Podcast downloads have increased dramatically, in particular. In the mid of March, the industry witnessed the highest number of podcast downloads within a five days period. Shifting categories, listeners are now spending more time with news programs, leading to an increase in downloads by 30%. Typically podcast listening occurred during the commuting hours, whereas now it is occurring throughout the day.

Moreover, we are observing content focus switches to suit the present state. The choice of podcast genre demonstrates the attitudes of listeners towards their surrounding world. More users are spending their time listening to podcasts on self-improvement and spirituality. Italy experienced tremendous growth in religious and spiritual podcasts that went up by 1500%, whereas self-improvement podcasts went up by 500% during the initial two weeks of March. Meanwhile, the US trends resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak trudge a couple of weeks behind Italy’s. According to a source, the book podcasts are up by 250%, whereas the religious and spirituality podcasts have increased by 160%. As sports events are getting delayed and canceled, the sports podcasts have started to take a hit too.

Undoubtedly, people turn to music in tough times like these. Amid this new life at home, all the music streaming websites and applications have seen enormous growth in their listeners. People feel that music improves their mood, makes them happy and motivated, and above all makes them feel relaxed.

With this new lifestyle, listeners of audio meditations, work from home playlists, children’s music, cooking, and housework playlists have all increased dramatically. Meanwhile, there has been a decline in listeners of celebration or party music.

It’s Time for Brands to Embrace Audio

Brands should consider their marketing strategies again to take advantage of these mediums as more consumers are switching to audio in their leisure time. Here are a few points brands should consider as they plan to embrace audio.

• Be on a lookout for supplementary human connections. Give utmost priority to audio inventory within content featuring on-air personalities. This will help you reach the audience who are engaged and seeking comfort and connection.
• Develop an audio content strategy that displays the sensitivity and awareness of present climate and consumer mindset. It would be best if you switch your digital audio context to include more channels, for instance, meditation channels, soothing, work-from-home playlist, etc.
• Offer content that keeps the consumers engaged as they try to unplug. Do not hesitate to experiment with new strategies.

With surging engagement rates and changing consumer behavior, the audio market is offering an excellent opportunity for brands to stay at the top of their audience’s minds. Not only will this give them sound brand recognition, but it will eventually drive considerable sales. Especially in changing environments like this, a brand that successfully delivers against the new consumer expectations will come out as a more robust brand after the crisis ends.

So this was all about why brands should consider audio marketing as consumers are settling into their new life at home. We hope this information was useful for you. Drop your opinions about this in the comments below.