From co-listening to multitasking while listening, we’ve seen a number of changes in podcast consumption over the last year. Our latest research conducted in partnership with MAGNA shows that podcasts continue to play a starring role in people’s daily routines, whether they’re rushing to listen to the latest episode of their favorite show, revisiting old favorites, or exploring new genres.

Not only that — participants in the study reported spending about as much time listening to music as they do watching TV shows and movies. In our research, 51% of people reported listening to more music during the pandemic, while 48% of people said the same about TV and 46% said the same about movies.²

One reason for this behavior is — you guessed it — screen fatigue. The majority of study participants (72%) reported feeling screen fatigue, and 42% cited it as the primary factor in why they’re listening to more digital audio.³ And at Spotify, we’ve seen over a 3X increase in streams of playlists with keywords like “screenless,” “close your eyes,” and “screen fatigue.”⁴

Take a look at the research highlights:

1 The study recruited over 3,000 participants in the U.S. who listened to digital audio or watched digital video in the past 24 hours. Spotify and MAGNA also conducted a deep dive on podcast listening vs. TV show watching behaviors, as well as how media consumption has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 3 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 4 Source: Spotify Internal Data, June-December 2020, Global, Playlist Keywords = zoom fatigue, screenless, close eye, close your eyes, screen fatigue 5 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 6 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 7 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 8 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 9 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 10 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 11 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 12 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021 13 Source: Spotify x MAGNA, “Digital Audio Expansiveness: Growing Landscape & Opportunities” US, Q1 2021