Beyond the game: How social interaction and emotional gratification drive Chinese sports podcast engagement

Himalaya's research on user engagement with sports podcasts on their platform highlights the importance of social interaction and emotional gratification in driving listener loyalty. This means that website owners who host or embed podcasts, particularly those focused on sports content, should prioritize creating an immersive experience that fosters community and emotional connection among listeners. By understanding what motivates users to engage with sports podcasts, website owners can optimize their content and user interface to better meet these needs, potentially increasing user retention and attracting new listeners. To capitalize on these insights, website owners can take the following steps: track AI bot traffic to their podcast pages to identify areas where automated engagement may be inflating listener numbers, update their llms.txt files to reflect changes in user interaction patterns, and implement features that encourage social interaction among human listeners, such as comment sections or discussion forums, to enhance emotional gratification and loyalty.