Spoken Word Is Having a Moment — And TMI Is the Reason Why

Poetry slams, storytellers, and spoken artists are building six-figure careers on a platform designed for music

By TMI Arts Desk · April 29, 2026

When TMI added Spoken Artists as an official category, it was considered a risk. Would music fans stay for poetry?

The answer arrived in the retention data: Spoken Word broadcasts have the highest average session length on the platform — 41 minutes per viewer, compared to 28 minutes for music-only broadcasts.

"Words hit different when someone's looking you in the eyes while they say them. That's what live poetry is." — Versa King, featured spoken artist

The Format That Works

The most successful spoken word broadcasts on TMI follow a consistent structure: one original piece, one audience request, one collaborative piece where audience members contribute lines via live chat, and a closing piece. Total runtime: 35-50 minutes.

The collaborative piece — where the performer weaves submitted audience lines into a spontaneous poem — has become TMI's most-shared content format, regularly outperforming music clips on social platforms.