There is a generally held view that the younger generation has a shorter attention span. Although, a generalisation there is some evidence that this is the case for some of us.
In the year 2000 Microsoft conducted a study measuring the length of time someone could focus on one thing. The results showed that the average attention span was 12 seconds. Fifteen years later they conducted the same study and found that it had dropped to 8 seconds. Which is officially less than the (urban myth of the) 9-second attention span of a goldfish. So next time someone says you've got an attention span of a goldfish, I would take it as a compliment.
The decrease in attention span has been attributed to the increasingly instant access to information, news or entertainment in the 21st century, due to the rise in social media. This means there is a higher demand for media that is more instant and easier to consume that doesn't have to engage your full sensory attention, thus allowing multiple inputs of information at the same time (commonly known as multitasking). This has led to the increasing demand for podcast media, and when there's increased demand, there's an increase in supply. According to Podcast Hosting, as of February 2021, there are over 1,750,000 podcasts and over 43 million episodes worldwide. Which is ten times the estimated amount of podcasts available in 2012.
Who are the big hitters?
For the past couple of years, the podcast industry has been dominated by the Joe Rogan Experience. The Joe Rogan experience has released 1,591 episodes at the time of writing where he interviews a range of people from comedians, scientists, historians, politicians, actors and many more. He has subsequently been rewarded for his dominance, signing the biggest ever podcast deal with Spotify which is reported to be around 100 million dollars. However, with Joe Rogan now streaming exclusively to Spotify it has allowed other podcasts to step out of the Joe Rogan shaped shadow and attempt to grow their audience. Podcasts such as My Favourite Murderer by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, a true-crime podcast presented by two comedians, or the Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster podcast where the two comedians “invite special guests into their magical restaurant to each choose their favourite starter, main course, side dish, dessert and drink” are now seen as two of the most popular in the UK thanks to their growth. However, you don't need to find the most listened to or best-reviewed to have an insightful or entertaining listen, sometimes it's the smaller podcasts, for example, two friends reminiscing on childhood stories in their garage, that fulfil our need for entertainment.
What's next?
With the current happenings across the world many businesses, corporations or even previously accepted norms of day to day lives have been called into question. We are all reflecting on what the new normal looks like as we perhaps unconsciously actively live and shape that new normal. However, one thing is for sure podcasts are here to stay. With massive corporations such as Spotify spending hundreds of millions to exclusively stream podcast shows on their site, many people see great value in podcast media. This coincides with the increase of celebrity podcasts that will ultimately bring them to the ‘mainstream’. The future is looking up in terms of the growth in this form of quick entertainment and it could become just a part of our routine.
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