The 5th edition of Culture Next showed that this portion of the population has listened to more than 560 billion songs and more than 3 billion podcast episodes
Generation Z increased its consumption of music and podcasts by 76% in the first half of 2023. This data was presented in the fifth edition of Culture Next, Spotify Advertising’s annual culture and global trends report.
According to the survey, in these first six months of the year alone, this portion of the population listened to more than 560 billion songs and more than 3 billion postcast episodes.
In addition, Culture Next also highlighted the three main trends of 2023 among young audiences. The first of these are “Cultural Dives”, which reflect the deepening of listeners’ cultural experiences through immersions in the world of music and podcasts.
In this case, the study showed that generation Z wants to break away from the superficiality found on social media and discover more about the culture, the world and themselves, going head to head with editorial and personalized music mixes such as Match, Niche Mixes and DJs available via streaming.
According to the research, this portion of the population used the artificial intelligence DJ, made available by the platform in February 2023, to listen to more than 1.5 billion minutes of music and recommendations. Additionally, Gen Z represented around 58% of all Match playlists shared in Brazil in the first half of 2023, creating deeper connections with friends4.
With the increase in the popularity of podcasts in Brazil over the last year, the study found that Generation Z is consuming more and more categories such as Crime and suspense (111%), Science (84%) and Sports (67%).
Another trend raised by the report is “Doing school”, which points out that podcasts are at the forefront of education, shaping the minds of the new generation.
Culture Next revealed that, in Brazil, Generation Z represented more than 148 million podcast streams on Spotify in the first half of 2023, generating a 68% increase compared to the previous year.
On the platform, the hours listened to by this generation in the Education category increased by 80% compared to last year in Brazil and 77% of listeners born between the second half of the 1990s and 2010 in Brazil say that podcasts teach about subjects that they wish they had learned at school.
The latest trend highlighted is “Viral Culture”, which shows how local cultures spread quickly around the world.
According to the report, in Brazil, 75% of Generation Z believes that “viral trends make culture evolve faster” and 40% of them stated that they listened to a podcast at an accelerated speed in the last year, while 58% revealed that they speeded up music.
Finally, the study showed that the generation is 28% more likely to see music as a portal to other cultures, compared to 2021, while 86% say they consumed music or podcasts to discover other cultures and different experiences and 72% stated that he liked music in other languages, a significant increase compared to 2021 (64%).
