Podcasts Are a Lifestyle Feature

Michael Hedges November 8, 2021 Follow on Twitter

Marketers and others have composed and studied lifestyle segments over several decades for insights. “Experientials” were identified in the 1970s as not just a good marketing target but an important framework for brand development. Examples abound from Apple’s iPod and iPhone to Club Med and Nike’s Just Do It. Experientials associate with a certain affluent, youth-inspired and footloose lifestyle. Marketers adore them still.

Presenting their crystal ball view of Scandinavia’s media and entertainment sectors consultancy PWC Norway revealed “experiences” as the near-term future pointing to “music, radio and podcasts.” PWC sees nearly 30% financial growth in 2021, within the three sectors, compared with 50% pre-pandemic declines. Media Business 2021-2025 conference (November 1) was organized by Norwegian ad and media business portal Kampanje.

“We also see that we are spending more and more time on podcasts,” said< PWC partner Øystein Sandvik. “This, in combination with the income models starting to come into place, provides very good opportunities. It will be exciting to follow the development going forward and who succeeds in taking strong positions in the market.”

“User surveys show that listeners have a high level of trust in the podcast hosts on the podcasts they listen to regularly, so utilizing this for advertising is obviously an opportunity in the future,” he continued. “However, good subscription solutions have proven to be secure in other media segments. This can be the best solution here as well.”

Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, private broadcaster Bauer Media and publisher Schibsted are all-in for podcasting. NRK recently began prioritizing its own audio platform - online and mobile - for its extensive podcast catalogue over Apple and other third-party platforms. Listeners “have not always been aware that they are hearing something from NRK,” said radio director Cathinka Rondan to Journalisten (November 3). She also cited editorial concerns.

Bauer Media inaugurated its PodPlay platform across Scandinavia a year ago and added an audio ad network in March. Bauer Media podcasts are also available through the Wondery platform, acquired by Amazon Music last December. Bauer Media operates radio stations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and others. At the end of October Bauer Media placed live-streaming of its Swedish radio stations behind a paywall.

In June Schibsted took control of PodMe, a subscription-only podcast platform based in Sweden. Norwegian podcasts and a full-time editor were recently added. “We have done something that many said would not work,” said PodMe co-founder and chief executive Johan Strömberg to Dagens Media (October 29). “Everything is going according to plan.” Schibsted publishes major newspapers Aftenposten and VG in Norway, Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden. The publisher adopted paywalls in 2012.

Obviously, podcasts and podcasting is a big deal in many countries, driven by listeners. A study recently released by Kantar Public and Amazon subsidiary Audible with data from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK showed 45% of respondents 18 to 65 years listened to podcasts, audio books or radio plays in the last year, reported German media portal Horizont (November 1). Spanish listeners led with 55%, France trailed at 37%. Three-quarters (74%) of the participants accessed the audio content via smartphones or tablets. Two-thirds (66%) were listening at home, 51% “on the go.”

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