There’s an intimate, long-established connection between voice and love.
US researchers have discovered, for example, that people alter the pitch of their voice when talking to a person they are romantically interested in (a man’s pitch goes up while a woman’s goes down).
This should come at no surprise, as the human voice is our very first mode of communication and connection – parents excitedly listen to their unborn baby’s heartbeat, while babies in utero can detect and responds to their mother’s voice.
That’s why the biggest love brands use voice to connect with their consumers and allow consumers to connect with each other and express their love through the spoken word.
Take Hallmark, for example. Some of the company’s most popular cards include preloaded music that plays when a card is opened. But in recent years the company has also introduced greeting cards that carry a 10s recordable message and even huggable stuffed hearts and stars with 30 seconds of a parent’s voice greeting or song tucked away.
Hallmark is not alone in this. Amazon carries a whole category of “talkable products,” which include greeting cards, hearts, buttons, and many more devices that allow customers to record a message for their loved one.
Does Hallmark use audio elsewhere? While we couldn’t find an official Hallmark podcast, The Hallmark TV channel of memorable movies does have one – Hallmark Channels’ Bubbly Sesh. And there are lots of unofficial ones too (including this silly one).
Romance Novel podcasts
It’s been quite cold lately. While many turn to their loved ones for warmth and comfort, others snuggle up with a book. Not just any book – it’s often the romance novel. Few genres have kept up such popularly over the years.
But, in recent years, millions are turning to the audio version – romance podcasts. It could be argued that podcasts about novels are even more exciting than the books themselves, because emotion, love, and passion can be conveyed so much more powerfully through voice.
Some of the most popular podcasts of this genre include Fated Mates, Read Me Romance, Authorized, Whoa!mance, and Not Your Mom’s Romance Book Club.
In addition to a plethora of individual podcasts, there are also podcast communities and networks. And the biggest and best is probably Frolic Podcast Network, a podcast community with no less than 20 podcasts – romance fiction, from book-club style discussions to author interviews, comedy, critique, and more.
Relationship advice podcasts
Valentine’s is about love, and there is no shortage of podcasts on love and relationships. One noteworthy podcast is Modern Love, an NPR podcast where hosts Daniel Jones and Miya Lee explore the complicated love lives of real people through conversation and storytelling. It’s based on the popular weekly New York Times column.
There are also dozens if not hundreds more focused specifically on dating, such as Date/able and Deeper Dating.
Audioburst has a powerful playlist of love and relationship podcasts. Our partners – primarily love, dating, and relationship websites and mobile apps, include this playlist so that their users can listen to many bite-sized insightful takes on love, intimacy and relationships curated from leading talk radio shows and premium podcasts.
Voice messages
Last, audio has become more important during the global pandemic, as dating went online.
As Taylor Andrew writes in Cosmopolitan, voice messages “bring some excitement to your life. Because if you’re also riding out the pandemic with your parents and experiencing little to no interaction from other people—hi, it me!—flirty banter via audio messaging could be the move.”
We agree. Audio is the move because it’s moving.
Whether in greeting cards, gifts, dating, romantic fiction, or relationship advice podcasts, publishers and brands are not just using voice and talk audio – they’re falling head over heels for it, and for good reason.
