81% of Indians engage with audio entertainment daily, storytelling most-preferred category: Pocket FM

In today’s digital age, the consumption of audio series entertainment has outshone TV entertainment, online music, and video OTT, according to a survey conducted by Pocket FM.

While 81% of users engage with audio content daily, the audio series got 74% 5-star recommendations as per the survey.

84% of audio series listeners migrated at the cost of online music, social media, short videos, video OTTs, audiobooks, and podcasts. While 31% of users transitioned from online music to audio series.

20% believed that audio series had replaced their video streaming habits, the survey noted.

However, 93% of survey individuals expressed a desire to adapt audio content into visual formats such as video OTT, TV series, and movies.

The survey underscored that storytelling emerged as the primary catalyst for its irresistible pull in audio content, with one in three users expressing a distinct preference for this engaging and immersive format.

Genre-wise, drama emerged as the leading genre, capturing the attention of 22% of users, closely followed by suspense and thriller at 21%, romance at 17%, sci-fi at 12%, and comedy at 11%.

In terms of the duration of the audio content, 40% of users lean towards shorter episodes lasting between 5-15 minutes, while 35% prefer slightly longer episodes in the 15-30 minutes range. Only about 25% of users prefer longer content, opting for episodes spanning approximately 45-60 minutes.

“The outcome of the survey reflects a remarkable shift in consumer content consumption preferences, signalling the rise of audio as a dominant force in the entertainment landscape. Audio is not merely a trend, but it has become a lifestyle, driving engagement that exceeds any other entertainment medium. The findings strongly suggest that audio series are set to dominate audio entertainment, and we believe, they will emerge among the top 3 entertainment formats in the next couple of years”, Rohan Nayak, CEO and co-founder, Pocket FM said.

Audio entertainment turns wellness specialist

Beyond entertainment purposes, 44% of users find audio for stress relief.

30% of the users use audio entertainment to enhance focus for improved concentration during work or other cognitive activities. About 26% look at audio as a means to avoid distractions.

Pay for play

While the audio entertainment industry is doing well, the subscription model still remains far behind.

Only 23% of users preferred subscription-based models for audio content while 40% of users still favour ad-supported and promotional models to drive consumption on audio platforms.