Some listeners delay falling asleep a little to listen to their evening podcast a little longer. — AFP Relaxnews
Insomnia, short nights, nightmares, daytime sleepiness... Millions of people worldwide suffer from sleep disorders. While there are various treatments to remedy the situation, some people try listening to podcasts to help them fall asleep more quickly. And according to an Acast survey, this technique is gaining in popularity.
The Swedish platform conducted a survey* among several hundred regular podcast listeners to find out about their habits. Some 48% of those surveyed had already listened to one of these audio programs at bedtime, in the hopes of getting to sleep more easily. Over three quarters of them have done so to relax, which could indirectly help them fall asleep as well.
There are two types of listeners who make podcasts part of their evening routine. The first is made up of people who prefer programs in the Sleep and Relaxation genres to help them fall asleep. They may also listen to podcasts in the Health and Wellness, or Fiction categories, to prepare for bed.
Most of them are aged between 25 and 44 (78% of cases), and are male (55%). The second group is made up of listeners who listen to the same kind of podcasts during the day and in the evening. Their favorite genres are Comedy and True Crime. The members of this cohort cover a wider age demographic than those in the first group, although 20% are under 25.
Despite their differences, these podcast listeners have a lot in common when it comes to their nightly ritual. First of all, they delay falling asleep slightly in order to listen to a bit more of their evening podcast. In fact, on average, they take ten minutes longer to fall asleep than those who don't listen to podcasts before bedtime.
Furthermore, a third of evening podcast fans take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep (versus 14% of other listeners). This finding is reminiscent of children who try to stay awake longer to enjoy the stories their parents read them before bedtime.
In addition, people who listen to podcasts before going to sleep are far less likely to skip the advertisements they contain than those who listen to podcasts during the day. What's more, 54% of podcast listeners even remembered an ad they heard the night before, before falling asleep.
More than a third have also made a purchase after hearing an ad while drifting off to sleep. These statistics indicate that, when listening to podcasts in a soothing environment, listeners are extremely focused on what they are hearing. Which is good news for advertisers. – AFP Relaxnews
*Acast Intelligence conducted four quantitative online studies in July, with groups of between 449 and 502 regular podcast listeners, via the OnePulse institute.
