Long-winded exhibit labels and audio guides are losing their audience. Today’s visitors prefer quick, engaging snippets of information over dense essays, and institutions need to adapt.

In our 2025 Survey of Museums and Cultural Institutions Visitors, 84% of respondents prefer short audio content tied to each exhibit. In addition, 71% of them would like to have the option to dive in deeper on select exhibits (while almost the same number admit of skipping many exhibits of lower interest).

84% of respondents prefer short audio content tied to each exhibit. In addition, 71% of them would like to have the option to dive in deeper.

Broader Museum research reflects this shift: 61% of museum visitors prefer “short, snackable explanations” over lengthy text or audio guides (Culture Track 2021). Young visitors in particular are put off by information overload: over half of 18–34 year-olds say they’ll skip an exhibit if the text panel looks too long (MuseumNext Digital Survey 2022).

This trend does not mean dumbing down content; it means delivering information in more digestible, enticing ways. Short stories, delivered right, with quick, relevant insights (like a fun fact or a compelling quote) can captivate them far better than a long expose could. In audio content, our research shows that content between 2 and 3 minutes performs the best with adults, and 1 to 2 minutes with kids and teenagers.

These “bite-sized” narratives match the modern content consumption style and actually improve engagement – a brief story or metaphor is easier to remember than paragraphs of dry data. Plus, short content gives visitors the freedom to explore at their own pace: they can enjoy a quick tidbit and move on, or choose to dive deeper into more content if they’re really curious. In this way, “short and sweet” can actually lead to more engagement, not less, by meeting each visitor’s desired level of detail.

We believe that giving visitors the option to get deeper in an easy-to-use manner is essential to redesign the experience. A well thought-through approach will avoid creating dissatisfaction among the core visitor group that enjoys more depth and remains diligent about listening until the end. In addition, it will give the opportunity to more casual users to explore a topic more in-depth. This type of content offer can be done in multiple ways, but one of the most effective is to offer a lead track of content, with multiple sub-tracks to explore further.

Spotdot offers a solution that allows for institutions to do just that, and we’d love to hear your feedback if you want to try it and experiment.