Modern business trends are all about marketing rages. Users and customers have to hear this rage all day on all kinds of devices. This essential list of podcast statistics will definitely give you the competitive edge you need.
Podcasts are the talk of the town across the global marketing world. Entrepreneurs of all kinds and types are making use of podcasts to promote their platforms, services, and products across the internet.
You must have considered it for your project as well, right? Marketing experts these days are advising all kinds of promoters to add podcasts to their complete marketing strategies without fail.
What is a Podcast? An Overview
Before just diving into the ocean of numbers, let’s take a look at just exactly what podcasts mean.
Podcast, in a very brief introduction, is a form of an online audio broadcast. The best part about podcasts is that the listeners can get insightful information and a lot of data about almost anything from anywhere, anytime, using any kind of device.
One of the key factors owing to the popularity of this new and trendy marketing tool is that most listeners integrate listening to podcasts with their daily activities such as working from home, working out at the gym, etc.
The elimination of all the visual elements from the setup makes a podcast easier and much more feasible for promotions in the contemporary, busy world.
So, without any further ado, here we start with the list of podcast statistics you should know about right now. These statistics will help in realizing the power of podcasts as well as creating a perfect podcast strategy without a doubt!
Also, don’t miss this list of top podcast hosting platforms.
1. 65% of All Podcasts Listeners Use Portable Devices Such as Smartphones
While you might be thinking that podcasts listeners are just those geeky people who use their PCs or heavy laptops to tune into their favorite podcaster, most listeners use their smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices for listening to their favorite podcasts.
Mobile apps have changed everything, including the way podcasts are being heard across the globe.
According to a study, computers and laptops are the go-to podcast device choice for just one-quarter of all podcast listeners across the globe. The number is estimated to only increase in the future.
2. 6 Podcasts Per Week: This Is the Average Number of Podcasts Listeners Tuning in per Week
According to a report, podcast listeners across the globe tune into 5-10 podcasts during the course of a week. This is the stat concerning the hardcore, full-time podcast listeners across the world.
However, the stats are quite different for casual and occasional podcast listeners. Around 50% of weekly podcast listeners consume around 1-3 different podcasts per week, while there is also a 12% of the podcast listeners population who stream around 11 or more different podcasts per week.
3. What Percent of People Are Aware of Podcast?
The best part here is that the number has only increased from 70% in 2019. The concept of familiarity does not necessarily mean that the respondents have listened to any kind of podcast, or even really know how a podcast works. This 70% includes the people who are exposed to the term “podcast” in some way or the other.
75% of All US Citizens Are Familiar with the Concept of Podcasting
As the popularity of podcasts is growing, the familiarity is becoming steadily visible in entire general conversations all around the world. The familiarity of podcasting is booming at a rapid pace in 2020 as more than ¾ of all Americans are now aware of the term “podcast”.
4. Which Are The Top Podcasts to Follow?
Since the inception of podcasts, one of the most popular podcasts has been “Serial”. It still gets listed as one of the top podcasts to listen to. There are a number of other popular podcasts such as “The Joe Rogan Experience”, “The Daily” by the New York Times, “This American Life” etc.
Here is a detailed chart of top 30 podcasts followed by the Americans. (As of August 2020)
5. Out of All Podcast Listeners, 80% Either Have a College Degree or High-School Education
According to a recently conducted study, it was found the majority, 80% to be precise, have higher education. Getting deeper into the stat, we see that 27% of all those have some kind of college degree with themselves.
Out of those, 25% have a four-year college degree and 28% have attended a graduate school or have an advanced degree with them. On the other side, only 20% of all podcast listeners have a high-school or less level of education.
6. How Many Podcasts Are There in the World Right Now?
This is one of the most commonly asked questions, “How many podcasts are there in the world right now?” The real answer is the number is rising every day.
As of the last count conducted in January 2020, there are over 850,000 active podcasts all over the world. Also, there are over 30 million active podcast episodes.
There Are Over 850,000 Active Podcasts across the Globe
The number is very crucial to understand the growth of podcasts as the number of active users in February 2018 was just 500,000. The two-year jump is evident to understand the future trends of podcasts across the marketing and generic market.
Experts have stated that this fact defines the current popularity of podcasts in the mainstream market.
7. 54% of All Podcast Listeners Are More Likely to Buy from a Brand after Listening About It on a Podcast
Studies have shown that around 54% of all podcast listeners are either directly or indirectly linked to buying a brand after hearing about its advertisement on a podcast.
This fact might turn a lot of heads towards starting a new podcast, but the real fact is that simply starting a podcast to boost your brand’s awareness isn’t all that you need to boost your sales.
The core of a successful podcast remains the same, a good and strategized promotional plan for your podcasts.
Also, another fact remains that around 43% of all podcast listeners discover new shows by asking around on various social media platforms, forums, and online communities.
This is also followed by mouth publicity, social group promotions, and browning through various podcast app directories.
Also, another fact related to this is that podcast listeners are more likely to follow brands on various social media sites after listening about them on podcasts.
8. 58% of All South Korea Listen to Podcasts: One of the Highest in the World
The listenership of podcasts is booming extensively across the globe. More than half of the population of South Korea is increasingly becoming addicted to podcasts slowly and steadily.
Every two out of three Koreans are fans of one or the other kind of podcast from all across the globe.
58% of the complete Spanish population are die-hard podcasts listeners, another highest population of podcast listeners across the globe.
The spread and popularity of podcasts in countries like Spain, South Korea, and Australia are believed to be the reason for podcasts being a popular choice of marketers of tomorrow.
9. 97.7% of All Podcasters Agree on the Fact that High-Quality Podcast Content Is Very Important
Quality of the content has always been the core and spine of all kinds of content in the marketing world. According to a recent study, 97.7% of all podcasters have agreed on the fact that the quality of the content is a huge concern and a factor for podcast success.
It is believed that regular posting of high-quality content enhances the listenership of a podcast to a very large extent.
10. Over 48 Million Podcasts are Available Online
You might have this question — how many available podcasts are there?
Well, there are currently more than two million active podcasts and even more than 48 million podcast episodes as per Podcast Insights reports of 2021. That’s quite a growth compared to 2018. When research was conducted back in 2018, there were around 500,000 active podcasts, and now two million active podcasts are there.
No doubt, podcasts are going mainstream these days and podcasts statistics are completely in line. Around 78% of the United States population is aware of — what is a podcast. That’s a prime reason for burping in a growing number of podcast creators and listeners.
11. Podcast Listeners in United States Statistics
Do you know how many podcast listeners are there in the United States? There is quite an increase in the number of podcast demand and the growth of it in the United States. The number of podcast listeners has pretty much increased in the number of podcast listeners since 2013.
As per the most recent survey of Statista in 2021, nearly 57% population above 12 years have listened to at least one podcast. This is around a two percent increase from the previous year’s research — that’s quite a growth in a decade.
In addition to the growth of podcast listeners in the US, the is also a growing number of United States people tuning to podcasts on a daily basis. As per the recent reports, 41% of the United States population listens to around one podcast in a month that is around a 4% increase when compared to the previous year of 37%.
12. The Best Time When Podcasts Are Consumed
Do you know 90% of the podcast listeners listen to podcasts from home?
Talking about the right environment of consuming podcasts, there is no right time. As per the research conducted by Edison Research 2019, every nine out of 10 podcast listeners in the US mainly consume podcasts at home.
Also, podcasts are being consumed when people are on the move. Around 64% of people listen to the podcast on car, 37% percent listens while walking, and around 37% of people consume podcast when they are commuting.
Most of the podcast listeners also do multi-tasking while listening to a podcast. While seven of the ten people and don’t do anything when listening to a podcast. Most of the time, 59 percent listen to a podcast while doing household stuff, 52 percent while driving, and around 50 percent whole while baking or cooking.
13. Podcasts Helps Brand Discovery
As per the research of eMarketer, more than half of the podcast listeners are more likely to consider buying from a brand after hearing the advertisement on a podcast.
Seeing such stats of conversion you might rush to hosting podcasts for your products/services. Yes, you can launch a podcast to easily increase brand awareness as well promote your products/services there.
Most of the time, podcast listeners discover new shows and brands by asking around on social media or online communities like Reddit, etc. Also, podcast listeners are more likely to follow brands on their social media handles.
14. Ads Revenues for US Podcasts
Do you wanna know the US Podcats ads revenues?
Well, as per the reports of Oberlo, it’s evident that Podcast popularity is growing rapidly in the market. Recently in 2021, eMarketer stated the US is expected to spend around $1.33 billion on podcast ads.
What’s more, podcast popularity is growing every day, and by 2023, the podcast ads revenue is likely to reach around $2 billion. In 2025, marketers have forecasted, that US podcasts ads revenue might go upto $2.74 billion.
If you’re still not convinced, we would like to share some real-time examples. The well-known music streaming platform —Spotify has spent around $900 million in podcast-related acquisitions.
15. The Most Popular Podcasts Shows & Genres
As per the study conducted back in 2020, around 22% of podcast listeners in the US prefer the comedy genre. However, the news is the second most popular podcast genre, followed by true crime, health/fitness, and lifestyle.
Here are some of the most followed and top podcasts based on the number of listeners they have — The Daily, Crime Junkie, The American Life, Stuff You Should Know, My Favourite Murder, Office Ladies, and so on.
16. The Podcasts Consumed Mediums & Devices Used
What’s the most popular device that is used to listen to podcasts?
As per the case study of Edison Research, around 65 percent of podcast listeners tune in to podcast from a portable device like a tablet and smartphone. Many podcast listeners also prefer web browsers to listen to podcasts while many listeners still use mobile apps.
If we talk about other devices, laptops and computers are the second go-to choice for one-quarter of podcast listeners. It’s also proven that mobile podcast listeners make their way through the entire podcast compared to those who listen on a web browser.
17. The Future of Podcasting
The podcast industry experts expect podcasting to grow significantly by 2021. Also, the current statistics of podcast listeners in the US could possibly increase from 75.9 million to 100 million podcast listeners in the US by 2024.
If we talk about the popularity of podcasts three years ago in 2018, more than 44% of Americans have listened to the podcast. And in a recent study of 2021, the number hiked to 58 percent.
You know it well more and more podcasters are moving into space and they create more varied content — this will attract more users and the podcast, popularity will also increase.
18. International Podcast Statistics (Demography)
Do you wanna know which country has the highest number of podcast listeners?
The United States triumphs when it comes to podcast listeners and the number rises every year. As a survey conducted back in 2020, more than 18% of adults in the United Kingdom listen to podcasts every week.
Another survey which is conducted in 2019 reveals, 36 percent of Canadians listen to podcasts every month. That is quite an improvement of 28 percent in 2018.
What’s more, the music program genre is also one of the most preferred podcast genres of Italy podcast listeners that are next to the news genre. Podcast awareness went up from 4% to 25% in 2020.
Here is the growth percentage of podcasts in the following countries, as per the research conducted by Voxnest:
- China 43%
- Mexico 47.8%
- Peru 49.1%
- Argentina 55.3%
- Chile 83.9%
19. The Popular Podcasts Directories
As per recent research, Spotify is the most popular podcast directory with around 32.8% of podcast listeners and 28,822, 381 which is up by 25% compared to 2020.
In recent years, Spotify has grown significantly as a podcast platform. Apple Podcast is the number two most download podcasting directory, it has around 28.3% of podcast users and around 24,849,809 downloads.
Other podcasting popularities are as follows:
- Web Browser 2.4%
- Castbox 2.7%
- Google Podcast 2.6%
- Podcats Addict 1.5%
- Overcast 1.1%
20. Podcasts Discoverability Medium
The question is — how do podcast listeners find their favorite podcasts?
As per the recent research carried out by BuzzSprout, more than 56 percent of listeners find new podcasts by searching podcast directories such as —Spotify and Apple Podcast.
More than 20% ask their friends for a product recommendation, and 14.5% mainly get suggestions from various sources as follows:
- Google Search – 5.5%
- Ask on Social Media — 1.7%
- Follow Podcast Guests — 3.5%
Now you have a clear idea about the podcast discoverability mediums.
21. Around 90% of Australians are aware of podcasting.
According to reports, Australia surpasses the US in podcast awareness, as 91% of Australians know it.
In addition, Australians over 12 are active podcast listeners, and around 20% are regular podcast listeners. In addition, around a quarter of them said that they listen to their favorite podcast at least once a week.
22. Around 60% of US buyers listen to podcasts.
According to reports, podcasting is growing in popularity in the United States as the percentage of people who listen to podcasts has increased from 44% in 2018 to 60% in 2019.
In addition, the number of people who said they are “very likely” to listen to a podcast in the future has also increased from 38% to 43%.
23. Around 160+ million Americans have listened to a podcast once.
According to reports, as of 2022, around 160 million Americans have listened to a podcast at least once. This number was up from 155 million in 2018 and 140 million in 2017.
It shows that podcasting is growing in popularity in the United States. Marketers need to take note of this and consider using podcasts to reach their target audience.
24. Around 65% of individuals listen to whole podcast episodes.
According to reports, around 65% of individuals who listen to podcasts listen to the whole episode. This number has been increasing over the years as people become more engaged with podcasts.
Marketers should consider this when creating their podcast episodes and make sure that they deliver exciting and engaging content to keep people listening.
25. Around 28% of Americans listen to podcasts every week.
According to reports, around 28% of Americans listen to podcasts every week. This number has been increasing as listeners are becoming more used to podcasts.
Moreover, the number of people who said they are “very likely” to listen to a podcast has also increased from 38% to 43%.
26. On average, US people listen to eight podcasts every week.
According to reports, people in the US listen to eight podcasts every week. In addition, around 15% of them said that they listen to their favorite podcast more than once a week. Moreover, podcasts are more consumed during the daily commute.
27. Podcast listening peaks between 08:15 and 08:30 a.m.
According to reports, podcast listening peaks between 08:15 and 08:30 a.m. It is most likely because people are getting ready for work or school, and they have some free time to listen to their favorite podcasts. Another popular time is between 11:00 and 11:15 a.m. and after 5:30 p.m.
28. Radio is the most preferred audio source during driving.
According to reports, radio is the most preferred audio source during driving. It is because it is easy to access and there are many options to choose from.
However, the podcast is gaining popularity as a preferred audio source while driving. This is because people can easily find and listen to their favorite podcasts while driving.
29. More men listen to podcasts than women.
According to reports, around 54% of men listen to podcasts compared to 46% of women. Moreover, men are more likely to be regular podcast listeners as they make up 60% of the regular podcast listeners.
30. Podcasts are getting more popular among older listeners.
The trend of podcasts is growing among people older than 55. In 2011, only 14% of the population over 55 were listening to podcasts.
However, in 2016, this number grew to 17%, and in 2020, it surged to the mark of 21%. In 2022, we can expect this number to grow even more. Moreover, the most popular genres of podcasts are comedy and business.
Bottom Line
Podcasting is here to stay for a very long time. These stats highlight the rise of podcasts as an important and vital part of marketing strategies for brands, entrepreneurs, services, and ventures across the globe.
The key here is to have a proper plan for developing high-quality content for your podcast. Make sure you add podcasts into your marketing strategy for comprehensive success.
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