Secondary Research on true crime:

Why are people so obbsessed with true crime?

I have done some research to understand why some people love true
crime. From what I have found, a Lecturer in Psychology has said that
he believes it is all about the puzzle being presented. He begins to
explain that these stories are different as they are the sort of stories
that people need to put their phones down for because every piece of
information is important. If the listeners are not paying attention they
miss a massive chunk of the story.Throughout my research it has been
said that because humans are always looking for something new and
that creates an element of excitement, through listening to these
podcasts listeners get a short,sharp adrenaline. An author stated that
stories, especially true stories, help us as people understand and
teach us about others and how to keep ourselves safe in this world.
True crime stories help us to experience and learn from terrible things
without ever being in real danger. The reason I decided to research
this is because I wanted to find out the real reasons that some people
are so obbsessed with these cases. This also helps me when thinking
about what my listeners want to hear when creating my podcast and
the reasons they may be tuning in and why they like to listen to these
sorts of podcasts.
Reference;https://www.derby.ac.uk/magazine/issue-11/why-are-we-
so-obsessed-with-true-crime/

When did true crime podcasts start?

True crime podcasts became popular in 2014, with a podcast called

‘serial’ which remains the fastest podcast ever to reach over 5 million
downloads. People that listen to true crime podcasts are informed
with cases from all over the world, some people say that they prefer
listening to podcasts rather than documentaries or tv shows as it is
less visual and graphic. True crime podcasts have grown and reached
larger audiences and with that it is a greater opportunity for these
victims to get the justice they deserve.
Unsolved mysteries:

For my podcast it will be based on unsolved mysteries. I did some

research and I found out that podcast listeners ages 18-29 listen to
true crime more regularly than people older.
Reference: Naseer, S. and Aubin, C.S. (n.d.). True crime podcasts are
popular in the U.S., particularly among women and those with less
formal education. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/06/20/true-crime-
podcasts-are-popular-in-the-us-particularly-among-women-and-
those-with-less-formal-education/#:~:text=Among%20U.S.
%20podcast%20listeners%20ages [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].
This website helped me to understand what sort of people listen to
true crime and unsolved mysteries. I learned that women are almost
twice as likely to listen to true crime podcasts than men. According
to a survey over a third of listeners in the US listen to true crime
podcasts however other genres such as comedy or pop culture are
more popular. From this website I found that people who listen to
true crime regularly. The main reason is for entertainment, they
were less likely to cite reasons such as learning, hearing other
people's opinions or keeping up to date with current events. This
information informed me with what sort of people may tune in to
listen to my podcast and this helped because my target audience is
teenagers which is a more popular audience than older people.

However I went to another website and I had a look at what other

people had to say about true crime podcasts. Some stated that they
like the psychological aspect of it whereas others stated that they
want to figure out what's in the heads of those who commit.
Reference: Quora. (n.d.). What are some reasons why people might
listen to podcasts about true crime and unsolved mysteries? [online]
Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-reasons-why-
people-might-listen-to-podcasts-about-true-crime-and-unsolved-
mysteries [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].
This website I found was different from the others as people
comment on it with their own opinions and it gives me an insight on
what people actually have to say about my topic. I found a lot of
different reasons. One person explained that some people are
fascinated by evil, this is because these platforms give us a glimpse
into the minds of people we don't necessarily relate to.

I wanted to research some of the most popular podcasts that

involve unsolved mysteries and true crime. Here are some of the
ones I found: Mysteries and histories, and they were gone, true
crime campfire,let's get haunted and killer stories. The reason that I
wanted to find out this is so I could understand why they are so
popular and what it is about them that people like so much. I did
this to see if I could get inspiration from these podcasts.
Reference:FM, P. (2024). Unsolved Mysteries Podcasts. [online]
player.fm. Available at: https://player.fm/podcasts/Unsolved-
Mysteries [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].
I found out that if you do want to reach a large audience, true crime
is a good option. Half of all podcast listeners have listened to this
genre and it's the third most popular genre.

I feel that the genre of true crime in podcasts has risen in its
listeners and is one of the most popular genres out there. It is a very
interesting genre and I feel that listeners can gain understanding
and awareness from these podcasts as well as they are learning
what to look out for in people and to make sure they are being safe.
Overall I feel that true crime has a big impact as a whole on society
as it makes us realise that some people are different and have
strange ways of thinking. Some people say that true crime can have
bad effects on our mental health if we listen to them too often which
I do understand and agree with having if you watch them once in a
while and not everyday it won't have an effect.