Significant Digits

From time to time we look at stats that define trends:

12%

12% of podcasts have only published a single episode. 50% of all podcasts have 14 or fewer episodes. This reinforces data we shared earlier this year from Blubrry that only 25% of 550,000 podcasts are still in production and that “pod fading” is a real thing. Good content is hard. (Pacific Content)

39 million

Number of ESPN podcast downloads in September, 2018 breaking the record of 36 million in May of this year. That’s up 50% from September, 2017  Podtrac says ESPN has 5.47 million unique podcast listeners in the U.S. That number includes time-shifted and original content. (ESPN)

46%

The percent of people who listen to a podcast immediately after it is downloaded continues to rise. It is an instant gratification world and this likely impacts the number of people who skip the “subscribe” button. (Westwood One-MARU, Vision Critical)

21%

Just 2% of audio consumption is done on a smart speaker today, but 21% of what’s listened to on smart speakers is radio content. Edison Research suggests that public radio likely garners a significant percentage of that listening as they adopted the technology faster and marketed “harder” than commercial radio. (Edison Research)

28% 

Amount of audience Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show has lost since the Trump election - including 41% of adults under 50. The beneficiary has been the more topical Stephen Colbert. Overall, late night numbers are on the decrease.  (NY Times)

 10%

The number of viewers for network TV shows tumbles again this year. The big drop is among adults under the age of 50, as people flock to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. You’ll likely see fewer reboots. Most are lackluster. (NY Times) 

2%

Not buying it. Only about 2% of people with devices that use Amazon’s smart speakers have made a purchase with their voice so far in 2018. The promise of commerce is great, but the reality is slower. (The Information) 

10,000

The number of new Alexa skills created in the last 60 days. There are now 50,000 in the U.S. But how many are people actually using? (Voicebot.Ai)

11 Hours

Americans spend 11 hours per day watching, reading, listening to or simply interacting with media. That’s up from nine hours, 32 minutes just four years ago. Have you tried looking at Apple’s new Screen Time feature if you own an iPhone? Frightening. (Nielsen)

#3

Who is behind Alphabet (Google) and Facebook in the U.S. digital ad market? Amazon. Yes Amazon. According to eMarketer, their revenue is on pace to double to $5.83 billion meaning Amazon is now an advertising juggernaut. Much of the revenue is tied to the retail site as “sponsored product” moving an item higher on the chart. Amazon says they currently have no plans to bring ads to the Alexa platform. (WSJ)

Worth chewing on ……