Podcast Stats and Marketing Insights

Shanoon Cox

Sep 30, 2024• Proven solutions

Apple recently released the HomePod software 14.1 update that brings among numerous other changes the option to choose which music and podcast apps you want to use. As the result, you will no longer have to use the HomePod’s default podcast apps as you just have to define which apps are going to be used for a particular service category.

In addition, podcast marketing is also trending as it has proven to increase brand visibility significantly. In the following part, we are going to take you through some of the podcast statistics you shouldn’t miss out on, and some insights for podcast marketing.

Check the most recent video marketing information here: Top 10 Video Marketing Trends, Statistics, and Predictions

The Widespread of Podcasts

Sixteen years after the first podcast was created the web seems to be flooded with this type of content. In October 2020 there are 1.5 million active podcasts that contain 34 million episodes. Moreover, you can listen to podcasts in more than a hundred languages.

The Most Popular Podcast Genres

Data acquired by Edison Research indicates that audiences favor particular podcast genres. According to the information gathered by Edison Research, the most popular genres of podcasts are Comedy, News, Society & Culture, Sports, and True Crime.

Comedy is by far the most popular podcast genre as 36% of people who listen to podcasts on a weekly level listen to at least one episode from the Comedy genre. News and Society & Culture are also very popular as more than 20% of weekly podcast audiences listen to an episode from these two genres.

The Countries That Listen to Podcasts the Most

Asia, North America, and Europe are the continents on which podcasts are attracting huge audiences. Information gathered by Statista indicates that 53% of South Koreans listened to a podcast within the last month, and 23% of the Japanese population listens to podcasts on a monthly level.

Moreover, 39% or Spaniards, 37% of Irish, and 35% of Swedes listened to a podcast episode in the last thirty days. These data also indicate that podcasts are incredibly popular on the North American continent as 35% of US citizens and 29% of Canadians listened to one or more podcasts within a one month period.

How Many People Listen to Podcasts in the USA?

Americans love podcasts, and the information published by Edison Research supports this claim. According to the data coming from this source as many as 75% or 212 million Americans are familiar with the term podcast.

In addition, approximately 155 million Americans or 55% of the nation’s population over the age of 12 have listened to a podcast on one or multiple occasions. 37% of Americans claim to be monthly podcast listeners, while 24% of people who live in the USA listen to podcasts on a weekly basis. However, only 6% of podcast listeners in the US claim to be avid fans that would listen to several podcasts each day.

Podcasting Audience is Amazingly Gender Balanced

Podcasts attract almost the same amount of men and women in the United States, as the research indicates that the podcast audience is 51% male and 49%, female. According to the 2010 consensus, there are 157 million or 50.8% females and 151.8 million or 49.2% males in the US.

Hence, the gender distribution of the podcast audience reflects the country’s sex composition, although podcasts seem to attract a slightly larger male audience.

Young People Make Up 48% of Podcast Audience

Moreover, nearly half or 48% of people aged between 12 and 34 listen to podcasts. On the other hand, there are only 32% of people aged between 35 and 54 in the podcast audience, while 20% of US citizens aged 55 or older follow podcasts. 

Podcasts Attract a Wealthy and Educated Audience

Although they cover a broad range of topics that can be interesting to people with different educational backgrounds and household incomes, podcasts are most appealing to post-graduates and people that earn $250.000 per year.

As many as 68% of people that completed post-graduate studies claim to listen to podcasts, while only 45% of people with a college degree follow a podcast regularly. Interestingly enough, the percentage of podcast listeners increases with the level of education so 56% of undergraduates listens to one or more podcasts.

Furthermore, it seems that the household income is also a factor that impacts the demographics of the podcast audience, as only 32% of people that earn $75,000 per year listen to podcasts. On the other hand, 45% of people that have $250,000 annual income frequently follow podcasts.

When and Where Do People Listen to Podcasts?

Nearly half or, 49% to be exact, of the global podcast audience, listens to episodes of the show they are following from home. In addition, up to 26% of people listen to podcasts while commuting either in their cars 22% or in public transportation 4%.

11% of the audience prefers to listen to episodes of the podcast they are following from work as it helps them focus in a busy office. Although the peak time for podcasting depends on the genre, the majority of data indicate that most people listen to podcasts around 8 am and 6 pm.

The Average Listener Listens to 6 Different Shows per Week

The number of different shows a weekly podcast listener will follow each week varies from just one to more than ten. On average, people who listen to podcasts check out six different shows, but as many as 21% of the entire podcast audience listens to just 2 shows weekly.

On the other hand, 12% of people who listen to podcasts tune in to 11 different shows every week. The amount of time the audience spends listening to podcasts has been increasing over the course of the last few years. Currently, the average person spends 6 hours and 39 minutes listening to podcasts every week.

The Most Popular Devices Used to Listen to Podcasts

Unsurprisingly, most people use Smartphones, tablets, and portable devices to listen to podcasts as they enable them to perform their daily activities while tuning in for the latest episode of their favorite podcasts.

25% of the podcast audience uses a desktop or laptop computer to follow a show, while only 10% of people are listening to podcasts from smart speakers. The latest version of HomePod software makes it easier to listen to a podcast you like with these smart speakers, but it remains to be seen if the new features are going to make this device more appealing to the podcast audience.

The Most Popular Podcast Listening Apps

Currently, Spotify and Apple Podcast are the most popular apps for podcast listening, as 45% of people use these two apps to listen to a podcast they like.

Google Podcast attracts 16% of the audience, while 15% of podcast listeners use the Pandora app. Audible and NPR One attract around 20% of people who listen to podcasts, however, their popularity may increase in the future, since the Apple Podcast app is down to 20% from 21% just a year earlier.

Podcast Marketing Insights

The growing popularity of podcasts has made them a powerful advertising tool, partially because the people who listen to podcasts are also avid social media users. 94% of the podcast audience is active on at least one social network, which is 13% more when compared to the entire population.

Hence, using ads to advertise your brand may increase your social media following and revenue, as people who find out about a brand through a podcast are either very likely or somewhat likely to purchase one or more of its products.

In fact, brands that advertise in News podcasts saw a 12.8% increase in purchase intent, while companies that used podcast ads in shows from the Society & Culture category saw a 9.2% purchase intent boost.

Advertising in podcasts from the Comedy category secured brands a 7.3% increase of purchase intent. Moreover, the podcast ad revenue has been on the rise since 2015, when podcast ads amassed 314 million. Five years later the revenue from podcast ads has ballooned up to $1.33 billion which means that it grew by 3000% over that period.

Conclusion

Even though the video is still the most sought after type of content on the Internet, podcasts have been slowly gaining momentum over the last few years. Statistics reveal an impressive amount of shows, episodes and a great diversity of genres podcasts cover.

Furthermore, podcasts are proving to be a powerful advertising tool that can improve brand visibility and increase the company’s revenue. Moreover, the data suggest that the podcast audience is young, as only 20% of people older than 55 listen to podcasts. This information can be useful to brands that are looking for ways to reach a young, wealthy, and educated audience.

Below is the complete infographic about podcasting stats and marketing insights. If you think the info is helpful, please share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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