Conversations are to culture what acoustics are to music—amplifiers that enable a topic's nuance, resonance, and depth to shine through.
Podcasts can help bring cultural conversations to life. As one of the fastest-growing forms of media out there1, podcasts give audiences space to explore, reflect, and dive deeper into important zeitgeist moments.
Spotify's recently released 2023 Podcast Trends Report peels back the onion layers of those key moments from this past year, spotlighting how podcasts capture the pulse of today's cultural dialogues. Here's a quick recap of some of our most intriguing findings about the podcast trends of 2023.
The ripple effect of cultural moments
When it comes to the staying power of cultural events, podcasts have emerged as an important bellwether—and the numbers speak for themselves.
The week of Eurovision's Grand Final, for example, saw a 492% jump in relevant podcast streams compared to the previous week.2 And when Beyoncé officially announced her highly anticipated "Renaissance" tour in February, related podcast listening spiked a whopping 1,025% compared to the previous month.3
In particular, we saw exceptionally high increases in listenership of" Renaissance"-related podcasts among listeners between the ages of 25 and 34—including +1,127% month-over-month growth after the announcement of the tour, +668% month-over-month growth after the European tour began, and a +494% month-over-month boost after the first US show occurred.4
These numbers highlight how podcasts act as catalysts for deeper, more meaningful engagement that extends cultural conversations at large.
From buzz to business: Why this matters for advertisers
You might be wondering, “How does all this connect to my brand?" Here's the deal: Of the listeners who visit an advertiser's website or app after listening to a podcast ad, one in 10 go on to actually make a purchase, and one in six take a desired action like signing up for an email marketing list.5 This means that these engaged audiences aren't just listeners—they're on the path to purchase.
This is the beating heart of podcast advertising—a space that's about so much more than reach. It's about an intimate setting where brands aren't distant, faceless entities, but part of a more meaningful narrative.
Download the full 2023 podcast trends report
Dive deeper into the cultural zeitgeist with Spotify podcast trends
Did those Eurovision and Beyoncé numbers make you sit up and take notice? You're going to love what else our 2023 Podcast Trends report has in store—like the impact of Lionel Messi's jaw-dropping move to Major League Soccer or the splashy Scandoval drama erupting out of reality TV's Vanderpump Rules. These are stories that broke the internet—and our data delves into the scale and scope of these cultural phenomena and their reverberations across podcasts on Spotify.
Want to learn more? Download Spotify's full 2023 Podcast Trends Report and begin to amplify your brand's reach via podcast ads today.
Sources:
- "A world in your ear: perfect podcast planning," The Guardian and Tapestry. 2022.
- Topic Engagement: “Eurovision", Spotify First Party Data, February 2023-August 2023
- Spotify First Party Data, Global, January 2023-August 2023; Google Trends, January 2023-August 2023
- Spotify First Party Data, Global, January 2023-August 2023
- Spotify Ad Analytics, Q2'23 </Footnote>