Lessons On Intros, Listener Skip Patterns From The NPR One App

NPR One

The NPR ONE app is offering the network a look at listening habits among users, and the app's Managing Director SARA SARASOHN went on CURRENT.ORG's podcast "THE PUB" to tell ADAM RAGUSEA about some of the findings, including a look at users' skip patterns.  Significantly, SARASOHN noted, looking at 33 intros to stories with low-skip patterns, she found the common thread was that the stories less likely to be skipped had intros 22 seconds or shorter, and did not start with a "time peg" like "today, this happened."

The stories more likely to be listened to all started, she said, with a "sharp topical statement," with the "today" part coming later; "most of those intros in that montage, and most of the intros that I listened to, could have started that way" (with a "Today on Capitol Hill..." intro) but did not.

But the intros being skipped also were generally 22 seconds long, and SARASOHN noted that a common thread among those intros was that they included something about NPR's process -- that it went to cover the story -- or that the story was part of an NPR series, but, as an audience member said, "Who cares what NPR thinks?"

The conversation also covered the app's geolocation abilities and funding model (underwriting and pledges, like the broadcast model), usage (average session length about 33 minutes), and more.  Read a partial transcript here and hear the episode here.

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