Deezer sees sports, meditation and kids podcast content spike during coronavirus isolation period as streams stabilize
- Streaming on smart TVs and speakers is on the rise
- Deezer’s data suggest global audio streaming should recover
Today we’re revealing the world’s new audio consumption habits that are emerging during the covid-19 pandemic. While on-the-move listening is obviously affecting streams, we’re seeing a positive shift towards home devices, live radio and mood listening. We’ve looked at the streams of music, podcast and radio across the world between March 2 – March 22, 2020 and here’s what we discovered:
We’re adapting to life indoors
The lack of daily commute and on-the-move listening is changing when we listen. Instead of the usual 7am weekday peak, the world has shifted to 9/10am. On the weekend, people are streaming constantly in the afternoon – something we’ve never seen before. And although Fridays previously had the highest stream volume of the week, this changed after social activities stopped. Now, for the first time, every day looks the same.
Return of the streams
We’ve seen from our data that people need around ten days to adapt to their new solitary life. Our data in Italy showed that although engagement levels dropped initially, it leveled out after the first week of lockdown. Elsewhere, countries like France are following a similar pattern. Following the lockdown announcement by President Macron on March 16th, we saw an initial decrease. However, around a week later, engagement levels have started to increase again. The UK may possibly follow this trend too.
Adjusting to this new way of living has also meant a bigger demand for content driven by our mood. In the week following the launch of our ‘Stay at Home’ channel, playlists like ‘Mellow Days’ increased by 335%. Our ‘Feel Good’ playlist is the second most streamed in the channel worldwide. ‘Happy Hits’ also saw a lift of 53% globally.
The boom of radio and mood playlists
- Radio: as uncertainty grows and the longer we’re confined to our homes, our appetite for news continues to increase. Although music decreased, live radio listening overall boomed globally by 19% in the last two weeks. In the last week, it increased globally by 2% again.
- Podcasts: despite overall global podcast listening dipping, topics like kids, sports and meditation are booming after the launch of our ‘Stay at Home’ channel. A week after launch, the daily active users of kids podcast content grew by 218% as parents balance work from home and entertaining their kids. Sport coaching grew by 194% and meditation increased by 132%.
- Music: As many of us working from home, plays of Deezer’s ‘Work From Home’ playlist rose by 391% in the days following the launch of our ‘Stay at Home’ channel.* Although we’re homebound, fitness and exercise remain a priority for us, with ‘Sports Motivation’ being the top streamed playlist in the channel worldwide. Streams of our ‘Yoga & Meditation’ playlist also grew by 366% in a week.
Switching devices
When we’re at home, we’re streaming less on our mobile phones. Instead we’re turning to home devices to play our tunes. Gaming saw the biggest boost, with music streams on smart TV & speakers, tablets and PCs all increasing. Looking at weekly global data from week commencing March 2nd March 22nd, here’s the breakdown:
| Global music stream increase | Device |
| +60% | Xbox |
| +59% | Android TV |
| +34% | Amazon Alexa |
| +31% | Google Assistant |
| +20% | Tablet |
| +15% | Desktop |
“Home isolation means that people have to adapt to a totally new life. You have to keep your kids entertained, make sure to stay fit and still balance work and personal time. Our data shows us how people are adapting. Home devices are taking up the job of streaming audio. Peak streaming now happens one to two hours later than our normal morning time. And the difference between weekends and weekdays is more or less gone – every day looks like Sunday now,” said our Chief Data & Research Officer, Aurélien Hérault.
“The channel we’ve created to help people stay at home contains everything you need, from sports to meditation. And listeners have been embracing streaming as part of their wellbeing routine. Our editors are working non-stop to make sure that listeners always find fresh and relevant content on Deezer, no matter what day of the week it is,” he added.
Aurélien’s three short-term future trends during the covid-19 lockdown:
- Globally, we’re relying less on our mobiles and more on home devices. This will probably continue to increase, especially in our European markets
- After an initial decline in the ‘shock’ stage, streams are expected to start increasing again. It will probably be some time before we are back to pre-crisis levels though.
- Contextual playlists and podcasts will continue to boom as they assist with our daily indoor life. Subjects like cooking, culture and fitness are set to become even more relevant
If you’re looking for playlists, podcasts and radio content designed specifically for your life on lockdown, check out Deezer’s ‘Stay at Home’ channel here.
-ENDS-
* The Work From Home playlist saw a 391% increase from March 13th – March 16th 2020
