May 19, 2020 - Economy

Consumers abandon audio streaming during lockdown

Reproduced from eMarketer; Chart: Axios Visuals
Reproduced from eMarketer; Chart: Axios Visuals

One strange takeaway from the pandemic has been that when forced to stay at home, users are more likely to abandon audio content for video.

The big picture: A lot of audio streaming occurs on daily commutes, where users don't have bandwidth to stare at screens. But commuting, of course, has been put off during the pandemic.

Between the lines: Pure music streaming via platforms like Spotify and Pandora seems to be taking a hit in favor of digital video and music video streaming, per eMarketer.

  • "These downward revisions to our forecasts come off the back of several years of strong growth in digital audio listener numbers for podcasts and music streaming.

Of note: In the beginning of the pandemic, podcast consumption was initially way down, but seems to have stabilized, per Podtrac.

Go deeper: Streaming spikes during coronavirus

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