ShivaniWhile it is true that people are attracted a lot to visual media, it is also true that they’re equally inclined to podcasts. This is due to the unbeatable conveniences they offer. For, these allow multitasking. You may travel, cook, clean, work out, sew, etc. while listening to these. Further, besides acting as a source of information, it also acts as a means for some to find a like-minded online community. They share their thoughts and interact with podcast hosts and fellow subscribers on social media platforms. From the point of view of podcast makers, podcasting serves as an online earning source with little investment as there are many free platforms available. So, podcasts are continuing to grow rapidly. Here are podcast statistics that tell you how the media is exploding around the world.
Powerful Podcast Statistics You Need to Know.
Podcast Statistics- Editor’s Picks
Here are the podcast statistics we’ve picked out for you to glance at before you have a look at the rest.
- Over 1 million unique individual podcasts exist. However, not all of them are successful. The number of podcast episodes online is 66 million and more than 50% of them use the Apple Podcast platform (Listen Notes).
- People today favour podcasts over books (75%), newspapers (96%), social media (58%), and TV (66%). And 48.4% of consumers report listening more to podcasts than they did a year ago (Discoverpods.com).
- Consumers like podcasts because-
- it allows them to multi-task (87%)
- of its portability (80%)
- it enables listening anywhere (78%)
- they like the host (76%)
- it can be listened to on a PC (73%) (EdisonResearch)
4. Podcasts are mostly listened to on mobile devices (65%). The other popular devices for podcast usage are laptops and computers (25%) and smart speakers (10%) (EdisonResearch).
5. A little more than 79% of consumers listen to podcasts while commuting. The other popular choices for listening to podcasts are while doing housework (69.3%) and free time (58.9%) (Discoverpods).
Podcast Statistics- Podcast Growth
The podcast industry is growing exponentially and becoming a significant force in media consumption. Here are podcast statistics to prove it.
6. In 2021, the number of active podcasts was 850,000, with more than 48 million total episodes. This was 20% more than what it was in 2020. That’s certainly impressive growth! (Podcast Insights).
7. Podcasting is increasingly becoming popular among the older generation. As per 2011 podcast statistics, only 14% of those above 55 years of age in the US listened to podcasts. In 2016, this percentage increased to 17% and in 2021, it climbed to 21% (EdisonResearch).
8. Market projection statistics for podcasts say that there will be more than 144 million monthly podcast listeners in the US by the end of 2025 (InsiderIntelligence).
Podcast Statistics- listenership statistics
Podcasting is increasingly becoming popular due to its increasing listenership. Here are podcast statistics in this regard.
9. An average podcast listener spends 6 hours and 39 minutes listening to podcasts each week. The easy accessibility of these allows podcast listeners to incorporate these into their lives (Convince and Convert).
10. Podcast listeners in the US report that they averagely listen to eight podcasts per week. 21% listened to about 5 per week, 19% of them listened to some 6 to 10 podcasts, and 11% of them to only one (TheIndefiniteDial).
11. Podcasts are very popular among the younger generation. For, 48% of podcast listeners are in the age group of 12 to 34. Apart from this, 32% of them are in the age group of 34 to 55, and 20% are aged above 55 (TheInfiniteDial).
12. 78% of consumers listen to podcasts to learn new information. It may be learning new recipes, songs, trends in a field, stories, etc. it is the most common reason why people tune in (Statista).
13. About a quarter of podcast listeners have subscribed to six to ten podcasts on average (EdisonResearch). This may be because podcast listeners like listening to a combination of a variety of podcasts.
14. When asked what would help them to listen to podcasts more, most respondents (65%) stated that they want more of their favourite topics, 60% want celebrity podcasts, 57% want more free time, 50% seek easy discoverability of podcasts, 45% want easier access, 40% seek reminders, and 35% seek more advertising (SlideShare).
Podcast Statistics- marketing and advertising
Podcasting is increasingly being used as a marketing tool in recent years as many businesses have started realizing its potential. Here are stats in this regard.
15. In 2021, the podcasting industry made a revenue of more than $1.3 billion. The revenue generation has increased by about $458 million since 2020. It is growing even more by the day (Statista).
16. 81% of podcast listeners state that they pay attention to the advertisements they hear in podcasts (Midroll). On the other hand, 63% of survey participants stated that they always or at times ignored TV commercials. This is a valuable piece of information for marketers.
17. Conversions from podcast ads are good. For, 60% of podcast listeners say that they’ve purchased an item based on a podcast ad (Midroll).
18. 89.8% of podcast listeners feel that podcast ads are effective. That is, the ads that they hear in podcasts are useful to them (EdisonResearch).
19. 65% of podcast ad revenue is generated by five niches. The highest (18.4%) is captured by current politics/events/news/. Next (13.9%) comes comedy. This is followed by business (12.8%), education (10.6%), and entertainment (10%) (lab.com).
Podcast statistics- Podcasters
In this final section, we’ll discuss some of the podcast statistics related to the creators of podcasts.
20. The countries where podcasting is growing at the fastest rate are Chile (83.9%), Argentina (55.28%), Peru (49. 1%), Mexico (47.84%), and China (43.62%) (Voxnest).
21. The most common reason why people start podcasting is they find it a creative outlet. So, 38.4% of podcasters are hobbyists. Other popular reasons include building a personal brand (21%), growing a business (19.7%), supporting a cause or activism purpose (13.8%), and working for an employer (PodcasterCaresSurvey).
22. The worst challenge that most podcasters face (47.7%) is with promoting their podcasts. 17.9% of them face issues with ideas, episodes, and scripting; and 13.4% of them with editing (PodcasterProblemsSurvey).
23. Individual podcasters measured their success in different ways. The most common way is the download numbers. Other techniques are feedback from listeners, new patrons, a product sale, a customer lead, and the number of likes (PodcasterCaresSurvey).
24. 49.2% of podcasters stated that they were concerned about content moderation and censorship. 19.3% of them stated that it was the hosting platform’s responsibility, 17.4% of them felt that it was the duty of the listening apps, and 14.2% of them stated that they don’t care about it at all (PodcasterCaresSurvey).
25. Most podcasters (48%) use Audacity to edit their podcasts. The next most popular software used for this purpose is Adobe Audition (The Podcast Host Gear Survey 2019).
Final Thoughts….
Podcasting is an emerging way to reach new audiences. You now have all the podcast statistics a marketer needs to know about the podcasting industry. You’d have understood how the trend is gaining momentum and becoming more valuable with time. As a podcaster or a marketer, you’d benefit by going through our blog- 20 of the best podcasts of today.
