Young, multicultural listeners in US drive spoken word consumption with mobile listening and podcasts adding to increases. These findings are part of the 2021 Spoken Word Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research based on based on 1000 online interviews of a representative sample of 18+ US spoken word consumers and 4000+ Share of Ear respondents aged 13+. Additionally, in-person interviews were conducted with individuals who had listened to spoken word audio in the last month.
The latest instalment of the Report finds consistent growth in spoken word listening, particularly among young and more multicultural audiences, many of whom are relatively new to spoken word audio. (For the 2020 report go here.)
Main findings from the 2021 Spoken Word Audio Report
- 83% increase in African American spoken word audio listeners in the last seven years.
- 116% growth in spoken word listeners 13-34 years old in the past seven years, with 18% growth in just the last year.
- 55% of multicultural listeners said spoken word audio is becoming more important to them.
- 75% of those in the US 13+ (212 million people) are monthly spoken word audio listeners, and 45% (127 million people) are daily spoken word audio listeners. Spoken word audio listening is up 40% in the past seven years, and up 8% year over year, with the share of time spent listening to spoken word audio reaching 28% of time spent with all audio.
- 7 year trend shows dramatic increases among young and multicultural listeners. The study shows 26% of 13-34-year-olds’ audio time is spent with spoken word audio, an increase of 116% over 2014. Similar increases are noted among multicultural listeners:
- Black listeners spend 22% of their audio time with spoken word (an 83% increase over 2014)
- Hispanic/Latino listeners spend 27% of their audio time with spoken word (an 80% increase over 2014).
- White listeners now spend 29% of their audio time with spoken word, a 26% increase over 2014.
- While most listeners cite the ability to multitask as one of the main motivations for spoken word audio listening, young and multicultural audiences are more likely to cite other reasons such as connection, education, new perspectives, and self-improvement.
Digital listening is also changing the spoken-word audio landscape. Mobile listening has increased 278% over the past seven years, with one-third (34%) of all time spent listening to spoken word audio being done on a mobile device. The increase in consumption on a mobile device holds for all ages, not just younger demos. Of all spoken word audio consumed by those 13+, 22% of it is to podcasts, a 176% increase over seven years ago (8%).
The comprehensive report also includes one-on-one video interviews with spoken word audio listeners, who revealed that they consume spoken word audio as a way to understand different perspectives on the world, and find personal connections and meaning in an otherwise ‘surface-level’ digital world.
The Spoken Word Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research is free to download here.
