The rise of attention inflation means that consumers are maximising their limited time by multitasking between various formats, spurring a rise in background consumption. This creates a “new” space for platforms to compete for consumers’ time. Among entertainment formats, audio is best placed to conquer background listening, but music streaming is more easily relegated to the background than podcasts. For future growth, both audio and podcasts must balance serving the passive, background listeners, who constitute the majority of consumers, with encouraging active, foreground listening amongst fans. 

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon Amp, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Audiomack, Beats            Deezer, HBO, Josh Widdicombe, Mercedes, Rob Beckett, NetEase Cloud Music, Soundcloud, Spotify, TIDAL, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Shorts