Making [Audio] Waves at Podcast Movement 2023

A lot was going on at this year’s Podcast Movement—the world’s largest gathering of the podcast industry. And while the floor was buzzing with podcast creators, vendors, and studio talk, the SiriusXM Podcast Network was making a statement. 

Because we’re all about the ears, here are the four biggest trends we heard at Podcast Movement. 

The rise of women in podcasting.

We can’t beat this drum enough: Women love podcasts. With 48% of podcast listeners identifying as women and three in four of them tuning in while completing various tasks,2 brands can reach these young, smart, successful consumers at almost any time of the day. Outside of their general love for podcasts, women want to support other women—90% of female podcast listeners say they listen to at least one show hosted or produced by a woman. 

We met with some amazing women in the podcasting world—like Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek from The First Degree, where they spoke to the power behind female creators and the importance of building community. 

“I think finally, in 2023, we’re getting to a place where women can now tell their own stories. Womanhood is so nuanced, complex, messy and beautiful and you just can’t capture that with a man telling a woman's story—women are the only people who can tell our stories” – Jac Vanek

The First Degree is a true crime podcast, one of the top podcast genres for women—over a third of all female monthly listeners tune in to true crime podcasts. If you’ve had a chance to check out our Podcast Trends Report, you know that listeners like The Armchair Detective are 90% female and typically working millennial moms who make all the household purchasing decisions. And that’s just one persona—with badass women creating content and having major influence on today's purchases, fempires are thriving and there’s no slowing down. 

The door is wide open for them to continue building their own empires and following their passions. And did we mention? We’re the number one podcast network with women. If your brand isn’t already geared towards women, now is the time. 

Comedy is the #1 genre—and it's changed

There are over 28M comedy podcast listeners3 and 80% of them say comedy podcasts make them feel like they are a part of a community. During the pandemic, we saw 90% of podcast listeners turn to comedy for a sense of comfort. But the state of comedy has changed—audiences are craving connections and looking beyond mic-drop moments. And podcasts hosts are hitting it home by not only producing entertaining content, but also curating conversations listeners can connect with. 

To dive even deeper into how comedy makes an impact, we joined Ashley Ray, TV I Say w/ Ashley Ray and June Diane Raphael, The Deep Diveand How Did This Get Made? as they took on the big stage and spoke about their experiences in the comedy podcast world. 

Their conversation was deep and spanned a wide range of topics. For instance, they discussed how in the fast paced, male-dominated world of comedy, it’s important for women to take up space. They also talked about the secret sauce of podcasting: joy. When listeners tune in to their favorite comedy podcast, they’re seeking connection, entertainment, and joy.

Podcasts + TikTok = driving pop culture

As one of the world’s most popular social media apps, it only makes sense that TikTok can be a powerful tool to help podcasters drive their listenership (especially when there’s a celebrity on board). For all the creators in the room, we brought the pros—Nava Kavelin, host of Podcrushed—as she dished out her top three tips for using TikTok: 

1. Learn the evolving culture of your platform. TikTok is more relaxed than platforms like Instagram, so embrace your personality and don’t be afraid to take part in the trends.

2. Study your analytics. TikTok has tools to show you when your content performs best; use it!

3. Figure out what type of content performs the best. Interviews, dances, trending music, behind the scenes, skits… or a combination of all of them. 

SiriusXM and TikTok go hand-in-hand when it comes to driving what’s next in pop culture (check out our Culture Trends Report for proof), which is why we’ve also partnered with them to offer unique audio experiences, like TikTok Radio. 

Audio > visual mediums

Thanks to years of ad effectiveness research, we know the impact audio advertising has on listeners and businesses, and we’ve got the data to prove it’s what your brand needs. With 183M people, 64% of the U.S. population, having ever listened to a podcast, we’re finding that audio ads are outperforming visual mediums. 

We sat down for a live virtual discussion with Ashley Ray, (TV I Say w/ Ashley Ray) and Tom Webster (Sounds Profitable) to get their perspectives on why audiences are choosing streaming audio as their main source of entertainment and what makes podcasts so powerful for listeners and brands alike. 

Audio ads drive strong brand awareness (+12pts) and boosts brand recall to 71%.4 They also motivate listeners to seek more information, make purchases, and recommend products to others. And the harder your brand ads are working, the stronger your results will be. Podcasts and the ads you hear on them attract serious attention—on average, audio ads drive over 10,000 attentive seconds per 1,000 impressions, which is 50% higher than visual ads on TV, social, video, or display.5

Some brands may feel like going the classic visual route is best, but these numbers prove that digital audio needs to be a part of your next ad campaign. Not only are audio ads impactful and memorable, but they generate active attention that other forms of media can’t compare to. 

Source

1. Women’s Podcast Report, December 2022, Edison Research and SXM Media2. Podcasting today, Audience Insights from Nielsen and Edison Research, August 20233. Edison Research, “Infinite Dial,” 2023, Persons 12+ 4. Nielsen Podcast Brand Impact norms database, Q1 2023 5. dentsu and Lumen Research, with SXM Media and other participants, Audio Attention Economy Study, 2023.