How To Make A Show That Millennials Will Love And Binge

How To Make A Show That Millennials Will Love And Binge

There are over 70-million millennials in the US, making up nearly 22% of the US population. A millennial is someone born between 1981 and 1996 and they carry spending power, as a whole, of around $2.5 trillion.?

As a podcast host, those numbers (which aren’t even the most shocking we are going to talk about) should have you considering how to bring millennial listeners into your show and keep them there as binge listeners.?

What Do Millennials Expect??

Contrary to popular memes, millennials listen to way more than true crime shows. They are deeply invested in their self-care, edutainment and podcasts that bring growth to their lives in genuine ways. They love storytelling, true stories, and vulnerability - they want to see you growing with your show and they want to grow with your show.?

Trust Is Still Key

In marketing and advertising, for years and years, everyone has talked about building rapport and trust with consumers - this still rings very true - but the dynamic has definitely changed. Millennial listeners are looking for a true connection and they don’t shy away from trust. The skepticism of consumership is shifting. If you build trust through vulnerability, you will have also built a binge listener.?

Vulnerability Versus Expertise

On that note, you might be wondering how to show vulnerability as a host without hurting your image or authority. If you are willing to show your mistakes and lessons learned, but frame it from the lens of what you learned and why it was important, this is how you maintain authority without making yourself look foolish to your listeners. This approach brings vulnerability and growth and your listeners want this. You don’t have to be perfect or know it all. Showing up as human, as a real person builds trust quickly.?

Community

The great thing about millennials is their deep craving for a community around their consumership. The reason influencers became such a huge movement on social media is simple - millennials didn't want to just look at other peoples lives online - they wanted to feel like they knew that person. They wanted access to their full lives, their habits and to feel in some way part of a larger community of followers. Influencers are human and create an opportunity for trust and inspiration that a banner ad simply cannot.?

Consumership

62% of young consumers listen to podcasts. To further that, 26% of those young consumers listen to podcasts on a weekly basis. 44% listen to the ads placed within the podcasts they’re listening to. 50% of those young people said they would rather listen to an ad than watch one.? They are already showing up where you are. They are already consuming content in the places you are posting. They are willing to listen to what you are potentially selling.?

Only 11% of young consumers said they pay for ad-free listening. That is such a small number - they are actively opting in to potentially make a purchase.?

If they trust a host or influencer:

• They believe the ads will be relevant.?
• They believe there will be a discount.
• They believe you are offering them something that is going to make their life better in some way.?

Internal ads are more effective than external, meaning if the host is reading the ad or presenting the ad, listeners are way more likely to tune in. 60% are more likely to engage with an internal ad improvised by the host. A scripted ad is 23% effective and fully external ads get almost no traction.?

Young listeners have experienced ads their entire lives and are so inundated with information 24/7. This means millennials are likely to tune out so much of what they hear, especially if the ad is something they've heard before, disingenuous, or seems irrelevant.?

Conversion

Young listeners blow traditional or expected conversion rates out of the water. 35% of these listeners have purchased something they’ve heard about in a podcast. That is a higher conversion rate than we’ve ever seen, from any other ad model - ever! If we compare that to Google Ads, display ads run a conversion rate between 0 and 1%. The average conversion rate across all industries for search ads is 4.2% and for display ads you can expect to see a conversion rate of around 0.55%.

Influence, connectivity, honesty, relevance, edutainment - these are the key focus points for building a show that millennials will love and binge. It doesn’t necessarily matter what your niche is - but what does matter overall is credibility.

Is the information you’re bringing to each episode trustworthy, reliable and relevant? Use these metrics to level up listenership and get buy-in.?

You can watch Tom and Tracy Hazzard’s full episode below or listen to?Feed Your Brand?on your favorite podcast player.