COVID-19 is changing our lives, in general, and also the elements that compose it, in particular. Over the last few months, podcast and audiobook listening habits in Spain and Latin America have transformed in a way never seen before. If in the years prior to the arrival of COVID-19 there were three major peaks in podcast and audiobook listening (from Monday to Friday from 7 to 9 in the morning during commutes to work; in the afternoon from 18 to 20 hours on the way back home and at night starting at 23 hours before going to bed), that has now changed.

The endless quarantines we have endured in our different countries have changed listeners' routines, flattening the three peaks mentioned above. Throughout the last few months, at Podimo we have detected a change in the listening habits of listeners between weekdays and weekends. Before COVID, audio content consumption rates suffered a significant drop during weekends. In the new normal, the consumption that takes place over the weekends is very similar to the levels during weekdays. Listeners continue consuming the same number of hours of podcasts on weekends as they do throughout the rest of the week.

Another of the most interesting aspects of new listening behaviors among podcast and audiobook listeners is that they are replacing screen time (TV and series) with podcast listening. This change may stem from the saturation of hours in front of screens due to many people working from home and looking for other ways to entertain themselves and escape, beyond screens. 

In Spain, the most listened-to podcasts on the Podimo podcast and audiobook platform are Personal stories and conversations (26.4%), Entertainment (26.1%), True Crime and Mystery (16.8%), and the category of Health and personal development is growing, reaching 10% of total listens. 

On these new podcast and audiobook consumption habits, we will delve into during the podcast session that will take place on Thursday, September 3rd at 15:15 hours at the Conecta Fiction ReBoot event with Dany Saadia from DIXO, Sergio Dominguez from ACAST (MEXICO), Javier Celaya from PODIMO, and Maria Jesus Espinosa de los Monteros from PODIUM PODCAST, and Roger Casas-Alatriste from El CAÑONAZO-TRANSMEDIA.