37 Stats You Can Use to Green Light Your First Video Series or Podcast (Even If Your Boss is Skeptical)

The binge-worthy content movement is in full swing. Over the past year, brands like Mailchimp, Shopify, and ProfitWell have built entire studios dedicated to creating video series and podcasts — and this 2020 trend is likely to extend well into the decade.

But for some brands, creating binge-worthy content is such a different approach to marketing that managers can be hesitant to make the jump, even though it’s one of the best ways to build brand affinity.

Fortunately, we’ve put together a list of 30+ stats and facts that you can use to make a data-driven case for your next series and turn that leap of faith into the most logical next step for your brand. Let’s dive in!

The neuroscience of attention and affinity

By creating binge-worthy content, you can provide your audience with two stimuli that the human brain is wired to give its undivided attention to — novelty and narrative.

1.) Pleasant surprises, such as a new, creative series or show, can trigger the release of more dopamine than experiencing things you already like, such as reading your favorite blog. [Source]

2.) Pleasant surprises can trigger the release of dopamine, the neurochemical that helps us form long-lasting memories of the experience. [Source]

3.) Humans are programmed to crave and seek narrative. [Source]

4.) Stories boost your neural activity fivefold, which exponentially increases our ability to remember information. [Source]

5.) Emotional narratives trigger the release of oxytocin in our brains, which causes us to empathize with the characters in a video series and, in turn, bond with the brand that created the video series. [Source]

The surging demand for entertainment and storytelling

Given Spotify’s enormous bet on podcasting and the expansion of streaming services available, it’s clear that audiences are hooked on entertainment and storytelling.

Podcasts

6.) In 2018, the number of podcast listeners in the U.S. reached 75 million and was projected to hit 164 million by 2024. [Source]

7.) 37% of U.S. adults have listened to a podcast in the last month. [Source]

8.) 23% of U.S. adults listen to podcasts daily or a few times per week. [Source]

9.) Spotify plans to spend upwards of $500 million on podcast companies. [Source]

10.) In 2019, Spotify acquired two podcast networks, Paracast and Gimlet Media, and a podcast creation app, Anchor. [Source]

11.) Over 16 million listeners describe themselves as “avid” podcast fans. [Source]

Video series

12.) The average U.S. adult watches six hours of video per day. [Source]

13.) Over 600 million people are now subscribed to streaming services worldwide, which is more users than people with a cable connection. [Source]

14.) The number of streaming-service-only households has tripled since 2013. [Source]

15.) 39% of the U.S. population was projected to become cord-cutters (people who get rid of cable and don’t resubscribe) by 2019. [Source]

16.) The average U.S. adult subscribes to 3.4 streaming services. [Source]

17.) 71% of millennials subscribe to streaming services to watch original content, which are shows and films produced by the streaming services themselves. [Source]

18.) Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu spent $19 billion on content in 2018. [Source]

19.) Disney spent more than $26 billion to launch Disney+. [Source]

20.) More than 10 million people signed up for Disney+ on its launch day. [Source]

The saturation of digital advertising and inbound marketing

Digital advertising and inbound marketing were once revolutionary, affordable ways to market your brand. Now, they’re saturated, getting more expensive, and, in turn, becoming less effective.

Advertising

21.) Digital advertising spend in the U.S. increased by 113% from 2014–2019. [Source]

22.) More than 25% of internet users in the U.S. were projected to use ad-blockers on their devices in 2019. [Source]

Inbound marketing

23.) The cost of consumer attention has increased by seven to nine times over the past two decades. [Source]

24.) Over 4 million blog posts are published every day. [Source]

25.) There are 23 million YouTube channels with 10+ subscribers. [Source]

The lack of competition in the binge-worthy content space

The binge-worthy content space is growing but is still a relatively new mindset, which will allow early adopters to cut through the noise faster and build a bigger following than the early and late majority.

Podcasts

26.) There are now over 1 million podcasts and over 30 million podcast episodes available (though not all are actively producing new episodes). [Source]

27.) Only ten active branded podcast show networks exist as of 2020. [Source]

28.) Only 59 B2B brands are actively creating episodes for their podcast or podcasts. [Source]

29.) Only 43 B2C brands are actively creating episodes for their podcast or podcasts. [Source]

30.) Only 38 nonprofit organizations and universities are actively creating episodes for their podcast or podcasts. [Source]

Video series

31.) Only eight branded video show networks exist today. [Source]

32.) Only 25 B2B brands have created a video series or film. [Source]

33.) Only 27 B2C brands have created a video series or film. [Source]

34.) Only five nonprofit organizations and universities have created a video series or film. [Source]

Binge-worthy content’s return on investment

The early adopters of binge-worthy content have seen a healthy return on investment in their documentaries and video series.

35.) InVision’s groundbreaking documentary film Design Disruptors generated over 100,000 leads, led to 2,000 independent screenings with other organizations and was considered the company’s most valuable piece of sales collateral. [Source]

36.) Since Mailchimp launched Mailchimp Presents, their network of podcasts, shows, and documentaries, they’ve noticed that people who’ve engaged with their binge-worthy content buy their products faster and spend more money with them. [Source]

37.) RedHat has experienced unprecedented success with their award-winning podcast, Command Line Heroes; they’ve accumulated over 2 million downloads, and episodes have a 90% average completion rate. [Source]