The Best Speed for Podcasts
Katie Notopoulos, writing for Business Insider
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Spotify provided exclusive data to Business Insider on listening speeds for podcasts for November 2023. A whopping 98.5% of listeners never changed the speed — they stuck at 1.0x.
This stat is truly shocking to me. I first started listening to podcasts at slightly faster speeds about 5-6 years ago and now I can never go back.
I’m a 1.1x speed kind of guy, but I can see why Katie likes 1.2x. All of my podcast listening happens inside of Pocket Casts, and 1.1x speed coupled with their Trim Silence feature helps me save a ton of time and listen to way more shows. According to my Pocket Casts stats page, I’ve listened to 48 days’ worth of podcasts, while saving over 4 days’ worth of time using 1.1x speed. Who knew I’d listen to 10% more by going 10% faster? Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Apple Podcasts lets you jump from 1x to 1.25x but nothing in between. This is too fast for me and audibly changes the way something sounds, which I don’t like. I have no idea why Apple Podcasts hasn’t added that yet but that’s a rant for another day.
9/10 - Katie is spot on overall but I prefer 1.1x
