In the entertainment industry, there have been many complaints about streaming services increasing their prices, despite most users enjoying only a small portion of the content they pay for. As subscribers become increasingly frustrated with this status quo, the door has swung open for a new category of entertainment to enter the fray, and the audio OTT platform Pocket FM is here to do that with its approach to audio series.
Pocket FM is set to disrupt the audio entertainment sector with its revolutionary business model and library of must-listen content. Pocket FM owns the claim to pioneering the audio series format, as it specializes in long-form audio entertainment that can keep listeners entertained for hours on end.
Why people are turning to audio series as their preferred medium of entertainment
Recently, Pocket FM conducted and released a survey called “Digital Entertainment Insights: Audio Entertainment Takes the Centerstage,” in which they explored the popularity of audio entertainment and consumers’ behavior while listening. The report reveals that 90% of respondents tune into audio entertainment daily, a staggering statistic that shows how audio is becoming the mode du jour of entertainment for consumers.
The most exciting aspect of Pocket FM’s study was an investigation into why digital audio is becoming such a dominant force in entertainment. Of the respondents, half said that the storytelling capabilities of the medium were their main draw, while 1 in 3 stated it was audio’s convenience, and another 1 in 3 cited the diversity in audio content available as the primary factor working in its favor.
Pocket FM exemplifies the diversity, quality, and convenience that listeners are looking for, offering gripping audio series in a variety of genres, including romance, fantasy, suspense, horror, sci-fi, mythology, and more, in both English and localized storytelling. This means that the app offers something for everyone to listen to, regardless of their interests.
Audio series represent such a significant evolution for the audio entertainment space because it causes audio to shift from an active to a passive medium. In the past, listeners tended to tune into audio content when their other senses were occupied, such as on their commute to work or while driving.
Although audio series are still great for that purpose, they also thrive as a form of entertainment in and of themselves. Pocket FM’s study found that many listeners use audio series to unwind after a long day of work or improve their productivity and focus.
Indeed, Pocket FM’s library is filled with audio series they call “blockbuster-quality,” meaning they are just as compelling and exciting as any movie or show you’d find on a streaming service. The service’s most popular series, including “Insta Millionaire,” “Saving Nora,” and “The Return,” grip listeners with their tension and drama, leaving them eager to hear the next episode.
How Pocket FM has created the concept of “binge listening”
Pocket FM has revolutionized audio content with a concept they call “binge listening,” which is exactly what it sounds like. For many of Pocket FM’s most popular series, the average listening time for the app’s users is 150 minutes or more. While many OTT audio platforms are not equipped to handle this binge listening experience, Pocket FM is perfectly designed for it, as many of the platform’s series have episode counts in the hundreds or even thousands.
The fundamental aspect of Pocket FM’s model is choice. “Digital Entertainment Insights” found that listeners prefer their audio content to come in shorter episodes, so the service offers their series in bite-sized pieces. This way, if a listener only has a short amount of time to spare, they can listen to just one episode, or if they have a few hours on their hands, they can binge their newest audio obsession.
Pocket FM further empowers listeners with freedom through its incredible “freemium” model. In the Pocket FM app, a limited number of free episodes are made available daily, and users can continue their binge by purchasing access to additional episodes through microtransactions. This approach is virtually the opposite of the status quo of audio streaming, which requires users to pay a flat access fee to use their service — including content they never consume. With microtransactions, users only pay for the content they want to hear.
Consumers’ preferences are constantly evolving in the entertainment industry, and there are few platforms as ahead of the game as Pocket FM. By introducing the concept of binge listening to the audio entertainment sphere, Pocket FM is changing how consumers listen to audio content.
As consumers drift away from audio streaming services that lock them in with constantly increasing subscription fees for content they aren’t even enjoying, a platform that offers them greater freedom and flexibility, like Pocket FM, is primed for success.
