Podcasting is a Rapid Growth Technology
Are you listening?
Podcasting is a rapid growth technology.
What? That technology has been around for 10 years - how can it be rapidly anything?
It's true...According to Edison Research 39 million people listened to a podcast in the last month, the highest amount on record and the numbers keep growing.
We listen in our cars. We listen at the gym and we listen while we are at work. (Shh...I won't tell).
Some of us listen on a desktop directly from the podcast website but most of us and increasingly more and more of us are listening on a mobile app from our smart phone.
71% of Americans own a smart phone. That is 7 out of 10 people.
And podcasting is literally surfing the wave of the smart phone growth. Pretty good partner to have if you ask me.
Who is listening?
Podcast listeners are marketing gold...Millennials.
According to an Edison Research study half of all listeners are age 12-34 and affluent. 4 in 10 podcast listeners have a household income of at least $75,000.
Ahh Millennials. The selfie-centered short attention spanned Americans born between 1980 and the mid-2000s.
According the government census they are the largest generation in the U.S., representing one-third of the total U.S. population.
They are at the beginning of their careers and will be an important engine of the economy in the decades to come.
Millennials are projected to spend more than 1.4 trillion dollars in the U.S. by 2020.
They have short attention spans.
They don't watch the news.
They don't watch cable TV.
They don't listen to the radio and online ads annoy them.
They have completely rejected interruptive advertising and never look up from their smart phones long enough to see a billboard.
So what's a marketer to do? How do we reach them?
According to Inc Magazine, Millennials spend 17.8 hours a day consuming media but they value user-generated content most of all.
"When you think about the places where marketers are spending a good portion of their dollars, it is in traditional media, while Millennials are spending more time with content that is user-generated," says Brandon Evans, CEO of Crowdtap in a recent interview with Inc.
So the answer for businesses isn't expensive traditional advertising but instead finding a way into conversations.
According to a study from Yahoo, Millennials have 4 key desires when it comes to content.
1. The Desire to be immersed in content. They want to escape their reality and get lost in content because it's fun.
2. The Desire to satisfy fandom. There is a certain voyeuristic urge in all of us but Millennials take the cake with their rapid consumption and fascination of Hollywood and the sportsworld.
3. The Desire to be "in the know" on specific topics. They want to learn things and become smarter.
4. The Desire to succeed.They are looking for resources to help them succeed especially financial information to help get through crisis.
What are the ground rules to successfully reaching them?
Be an individual. Millennials like brands who favor independence and personalities.
Deliver an emotion and know that humor rules.
"Generate content that gives Millennials an emotional payout. Comedy is the number one most watched genre online and speaks to their values of fun and positivity." The Yahoo study states.
The bottom line is Millennials want inspiration and creativity and we need to create content that is worthy of their aspirations, sense of community, intelligence and humor.
I know it sounds simplistic but my mantra is to just make them laugh and everything else will fall into place.
4 million downloads a month...and growing
More Posts From Tracy:
Is Twitter's Periscope Voyeurism or Marketing Gold?
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/narcissism-101-confessions-periscope-virgin-tracy-hammond?trk=pulse_spock-articles
The Price Of Fame. How Much Is Social Media Worth?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/price-fame-how-much-social-media-worth-tracy-hammond?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Obama on WTF Podcast
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/obama-wtf-podcast-tracy-hammond?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Email Marketing & Lifecycle Specialist
9 年Thanks for the insight Dustin Dellera!
HCM Technology and Services | Commercial Insurance
9 年I made up at least 1 million of those 39 million downloads! LOL...Im at the tail end of GenX and I find Podcasting to be my favorite form of media right now for all the reasons mentioned. Keys for me are the less intrusion of ads (and the way they do their reads are hilarious i.e. joe rogan, duncan trussel, bill burr, etc. and on demand availability. I can listen to whoever I want talk about whatever I want whenever I want. the problem is the volume of content and sorting through for quality.
Technical Production and Digital Account Management
9 年duh
with unstoppable branded content growth who better than professional comedians to act as brand ambassadors
Activity Leader
9 年Good stuff coming ahaead5