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General statistics and facts
We're going to start with some general podcast statistics. They can help you understand the extent of their development and the number of people around the world who listen to podcasts online. These statistics focus on how many people know about podcasting, podcast listener statistics, and other similar numbers.
1. There are over a million unique individual podcasts out there.
This figure alone shows the growth of podcasts. Of course, not all of them are successful. There are also around 66 million podcast episodes online, and over 500,000 shows are present in Apple Podcast.
Simply put, that means that over 50% of all podcast shows use Apple Podcast. This shows that the platform is the most popular choice for podcasters. The Google crawler that indexes content found over 2 million different shows.
Even though these numbers are not entirely accurate, they indicate how far this type of media has developed. Podcast content is growing every year, and that trend is not going to stop.
(Source: Listennotes.com)
2. There are over 48 million podcast episodes.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of podcasts, this number continues to rise rapidly. In April 2021, the number of podcast episodes reached an impressive 48 million. That's almost 30 million more than in April 2018.
(Source: Podcastinsights.com)
3. There are an estimated 104 million monthly podcast listeners in the United States.
Edison Research concluded that there are approximately 104 million podcast listeners in the United States. Their podcast study also shows that 212 million Americans have heard of podcasts, while 155 million of them have listened to a podcast at least once in their lives.
According to Statista, there are 86 million podcast listeners in the United States, while eMarketer results indicate 78.9 million consumers. The real number is probably somewhere in the middle. However, what is certain is that these numbers will increase in the future.
Statista projections point to 132 million listeners by 2022, while eMarketer figures show a 20% increase in listeners over a 4-year period.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com, Statista.com, eMarketer.com)
4. In 2020, 75% of Americans knew about podcasting.
Familiarity is very important, even if that doesn't mean that these people are consuming podcasts. However, for a medium to become mainstream, it must be known worldwide, as it arouses curiosity and makes people want to try it.
In 2006, only 22% of people over the age of 12 had heard of podcasts. In 2020, this figure rose to 75%, or 2012 million people. Additionally, 55% of American citizens will have listened to at least one podcast in 2020. In 2012, this figure was only 11%.
Not only are people getting familiar with the podcast, but more and more people are consuming this type of content.
(Source: Statista.com)
5. 73% of American consumers find podcasts through Internet searches.
According to Slideshare, the most used ways to find podcasts are social media (67%), recommendations (66%), podcast recommendations (62%), ads (54%), etc. In other words, people find podcasts in different ways, and there isn't a single channel they rely on to find fresh content.
On the other hand, Discoverpods discovered that 80% of consumers find podcasts through cross-promotion. The second most popular method is referrals from others (72%) and social media (56%).
Even though people find podcasts in different ways, 72.8% agree that finding new shows is the biggest challenge. The other two main problems, according to listeners, are lack of awareness (49%) and poor content quality (32.9%).
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
6. 37.6% of podcasters have been active for more than 3 years.
32.3% of podcasters have been active for about 1 to 3 years, 12.9% of them have been active for 6 months to 1 year, and 17.2% are real beginners with less than 6 months of work.
(Source: Discoverpods.com)
7. 97.7% of podcasters agree that quality content is essential.
Quality content is essential for 97.7% of podcasters, 96.5% like to engage listeners, and 89.7% know the importance of publishing content regularly.
(Source: Discoverpods.com)
Podcast demographics
As an advertiser, you want to know how many people are listening to podcasts. However, this information won't be of any use to you if you don't know which people are listening to what types of shows. To produce a successful podcast, you need to know the demographics of the listeners.
After all, not all series are made for the same audience. There is always segmentation, no matter what type of media we are talking about. When you know who your audience is, it will be easier for you to create content that they will like.
So let's see what the statistics say.
8. 48% of podcast listeners in the United States are between the ages of 12 and 34.
Based on the age of podcast listeners in the United States, 48% are between 12 and 34, 32% between 35 and 54, and 20% are over 55. When it comes to gender, listeners are evenly distributed in the United States. 51% of them are men and 49% are women.
The ethnicity of podcast listeners in the United States is as follows: 63% white, 11% African American, 11% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 10% others.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
9. In 2020, 39% of men and 36% of women listened to podcasts every month.
The popularity of podcasts is on the rise for both genders (across the entire US population). Compared to 2017, when 27% of men and 21% of women did so on a monthly basis.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
10. 57% of the American population listened to at least one podcast.
This is an increase of 2% compared to 2020. In just one year, an additional 10 million Americans have become familiar with podcasts. Around 222 million American citizens (78%) know what podcasts are, representing an increase of 4.72% compared to 2020.
(Source: ConvinceandConvert.com)
11. 28% of monthly podcast consumers in the United States have a higher degree.
27% of monthly listeners have completed higher education, 25% of them have completed a four-year higher education, and 20% of them have a high school diploma or a lower education.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
12. 51% of monthly podcast consumers over the age of 18 have a full-time job.
In the United States, the same demographic group accounts for 44% of all monthly consumers. 17% of monthly listeners worldwide have a part-time job, compared to 12% in the United States.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
How people consume podcasts
Podcast creators need to know how their content is being used across a wide range of platforms and situations. All of this information can help us understand the whole podcasting industry. At the same time, you can learn the main drivers of podcast consumption.
Knowing how people listen to podcasts online can help you provide a better podcasting experience, but also help you learn what audiences like and don't like, and what will matter in the future.
13. 79% of people listen to podcasts while on the go.
The other most popular choices for listening to podcasts are during free time (58.9%) and while cleaning (69.3%).
(Source: Discoverpods.com)
14. 66% of people prefer to listen to podcasts rather than watch television.
Podcasts are consumed more than television (66%), social media (59%), and books (75%).
(Source: Discoverpods.com)
15. It is estimated that 64 million of the total American population aged 12 and older will listen to podcasts every week in 2020.
The average time Americans spend listening to podcasts per week is 6:39. At the same time, listeners consumed an average of 7 podcasts per week. However, not everyone listens to it at the same frequency.
16% of listeners only listen to one podcast per week. 15% of them listen to two podcasts in a week. 17% listen to 3, 21% listen to 4-5, 17% listen to 6-10, and 14% consume 11+ podcasts per week.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
16. In 2019, 48.4% of people said they listened to podcasts more than the previous year.
This podcasting study shows that people are gradually increasing the number of podcasts they listen to. 45.6% of users say they listen to them the same way as the previous year, while only 6% say they listen to them less.
(Source: Discoverpods.com)
17. Die-hard fans listen to an average of 8 podcasts per week.
This average figure is not carved in stone. Around 1 to 3 podcasts per week is the average for 40% of podcast listeners, while 19% of die-hard fans listen to at least 11 podcasts each week.
(Source: ConvinceandConvert.com)
18. 40% of podcast listeners discover new podcasts on their listening app.
Listening application directories are the most used source of podcast discovery by most listeners. Other people ask for recommendations from an acquaintance (18.3%), turn to social media (15.2%), search on Google (13.6%), or consult podcast boards (13%).
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
19. 39% of American podcast listeners are more interested in the topic of music.
The other most popular topics are news (36%), entertainment and pop culture (32%), history and sports (31%), food (30%), mystery (28%), technology (28%), crimes based on true stories (28%), personal improvement (27%), and science (26%).
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
20. 29% of podcast listeners in the United States have been listening to podcasts for 1 to 3 years.
Among monthly podcast consumers, 30% of people have also listened to podcasts for 1 to 3 years. The numbers are the same for fans of weekly podcasts.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
21. 52% of American podcast consumers listen to entire podcasts.
Just over half of podcast users (52%) listen to entire podcasts. 41% of them listen to the majority of shows on average, 5% of them say they often listen to less than half of an episode, and 2% of people abandon podcasts early on.
Many people download podcasts to listen to or watch later. 58% of people who download podcasts say they usually listen (76-100% of the time) to these episodes. 20% of people who downloaded podcasts listened to 51-75% of the content they downloaded.
15% of consumers listen to 25 to 50% of downloaded content, and 7% only listen to about 1 to 25% of programs. Most downloaded podcasts are downloaded and consumed within a day of airing (47%). 31% are consumed within 48 hours, 19% within a week, and 3% after more than a week.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
22. A survey shows that 45 percent of American listeners over the age of 12 speed up their podcasts.
A 2018 telephone survey showed that 19% of people sometimes speed up their podcasts. In contrast, a 2019 online survey showed that 26% of people do. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean all the time, but sometimes.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
23. 74% of people listen to podcasts to learn new things.
The main motivation for listening to podcasts is learning. The largest number of listeners agree that they listen to podcasts to learn something new (74%).
The same survey conducted by Slideshare shows that 71% of users say podcasts are entertaining, 60% like them because they can stay up to date on topics that interest them, 51% find them relaxing, 47% look for inspiration, and 37% like podcasts because they help them forget everyday problems.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
24. The description of a podcast is the key factor in pressing “play” on a new podcast.
On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the most important factor in listening to a new podcast, podcast listeners give 7.8 to the description of a podcast. Less important factors are episode titles (6.3), frequency (5.6), ratings and reviews (5.3), illustrations (5.2), name (5.1), and familiarity with the guest (4.6) and the presenter (3.7).
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
25. 87% of consumers prefer podcast-style content.
87% of consumers prefer this type of content because they can do other things while listening to podcasts. 80% like portability, 78% of listeners like being able to listen to podcasts anywhere, 76% of people like to listen to podcast hosts, and 73% like being able to listen to them on a PC.
Additionally, Slideshare asked listeners what it would take to get them to listen to even more podcasts. 65% of them answered that they wanted more topics they like, 60% would like more celebrity podcasts, 57% needed more free time, 50% wanted podcasts to be easier to find, 45% reported easier access, 40% of people wanted reminders, and 35% of respondents said that it was necessary more advertising.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
26. 28.9% of listeners give new podcasts up to 15 minutes to catch them.
Not all podcast lovers are equally generous. Podcasters have up to 5 minutes to captivate 27.5% of listeners, while 2.3% will sign out if a podcast doesn't hook them in under a minute. But there are also optimistic people who will sit for an entire episode (22.6%), two episodes (10.2%), 3-5 (8.3%), or 6+ (0.3%) to decide if a podcast is worth it.
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
27. 90% of American podcast listeners listen to them at home.
A survey conducted in August 2019 showed that 90% of podcast consumers in the United States prefer to listen to podcasts at home. Some other most popular spots are the gym, walks, and daily commutes.
(Source: Statista.com)
Podcasting technology
To create your own podcast, you need the right subject, audience, and equipment. Even though that sounds pretty simple, it's not really the case. You need to research all three of these things to make the right decision, or your podcast won't be successful.
Fortunately, the podcasting industry is ready to share information about the technology they use. Getting the right software and equipment is critical to producing quality audio that people will listen to.
Instead of wasting money testing equipment, you can simply see what others are using and follow their lead. Additionally, recording hardware and software evolve very quickly, and keeping up with changes can sometimes be difficult.
28. 65% of podcasts are listened to on a mobile device.
The second most used devices are computers and laptops (25%), and smart speakers come in third (10%).
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
29. The two main podcasting platforms in the United States are Spotify and Pandora.
The two main platforms for listening to podcasts in the United States are Spotify and Pandora. Of all people who have listened to a podcast at least once in their lives, 43% have used Spotify, while 35% have used Pandora. At the same time, monthly Spotify users between the ages of 12 and 24 grew by 21% between 2018 and 2019.
Another podcast study shows that 38% of podcast listeners in the United States listen through the Apple Podcast service. Smartphones are among the most popular devices for listening to podcasts, and since there are over 100 million iPhones in the United States, it makes sense that their platform is so popular.
(Source: Statista.com)
30. 51.1% of podcast lovers prefer podcasts with professional audio quality.
Poor sound quality repels more than half of podcast listeners, while 48.9% don't care, as long as the content is good.
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
31. 72% of podcasters said they wear headphones when they live.
The Podcast Host surveyed 200 podcasters about the technology they use for their work. 72% of podcasters said they use headphones.
52.5% of studios are equipped with Boom-Arm stands, 50% of podcasters use condenser microphones, 45% of animators use blue microphones for their work, and 37% of animators use an audio interface.
The most popular hosting service for podcasting is Buzzsprout. Read our study if you want to know more about best podcast hosting sites.
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
Podcasting industry market
As a relatively young industry, podcasting is evolving very rapidly. Furthermore, the industry has not yet reached its standard form. That means things are changing rapidly from one year to the next. Predicting and anticipating change can be very difficult.
Both podcasters and marketers don't know how podcasting is going to interact with their audience, products, advertising, and technology. It's critical to follow trends and see where the industry is going.
That's what these podcast stats can help you learn, so be sure to read them carefully.
32. Podcast advertising revenue is expected to exceed $1 billion by 2021.
In 2018, marketers spent $479 million advertising on podcasts in the U.S., an increase of 53% from $314 million in 2017. Based on market trends, revenues are expected to exceed $1 billion in 2021.
(Source: IAB.com)
33. Advertisers will spend at least $500 million on podcast ads in the United States in 2020.
Podcast advertising statistics show an increase in spending from year to year, in 2010 they were 43 million dollars, in 2019 they reached 420 million dollars. In 2020, forecasts exceed half a billion dollars.
(Source: Statista.com)
34. Only 1% of podcasts are considered profitable.
For a podcast to be really interesting for advertisers, it needs to have at least 5k average downloads per episode on average. This is the strict minimum and involves a small part-time salary. Only 1% of podcasts have over 37k downloads per episode and they are considered profitable.
(Source: Lime.link)
35. Advertising what, where and when?
Podcast advertising is already growing at a rapid pace. Most advertisers (89.8%) use podcasts for brand marketing campaigns. 63.3% of these ads are types of ads read by podcast hosts, and the majority of 62.5.5 ads are sold either annually or quarterly.
The most common pricing model is cost per thousand, and 85.7% of podcasters use it. Some of the biggest podcasts earn between $10 and $50 per ad for every thousand listeners. The most common types of ads are mid-roll and pre-roll ads. 30% of podcasts run 60-second ads, while 27% have 90-second ads.
(Source: IAB.com, Forbes.com)
36. 65% of advertising revenue is captured by 5 program topics.
Podcasts that focus on news/politics/current events generate the highest advertising revenue (18.4%). Comedy followed at 13.9%, business at 12.8%, education at 10.6%, and entertainment at 10%. The remaining 35% of advertising revenue is split across dozens of different podcast topics.
(Source: IAB.com)
37. 89.8% of listeners think podcast ads are effective.
86.5% of users say they listen to ads during podcasts and 55.6% say they have purchased a product that they learned about in a podcast ad.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
38. 93.8% of podcast listeners don't mind hearing ads during episodes.
Many podcasters have sponsors. So it's good to know that their ads don't put off most of their fans. However, 6.2% of them say they won't listen to a podcast that contains ads.
(Source: Thepodcasthost.com)
39. 54% of listeners will consider a brand after hearing its advertisement in a podcast.
Relevant podcast ads are a great way for brands to expand their reach and attract interested customers. After hearing a brand's ad on a quality podcast, more than half of listeners are more likely to make purchases from that brand.
(Source: eMarketer.com)
40. Branded ads during podcasts stimulate buying intent.
Different types of podcasts improve brands' chances of generating buying intent through ads, with the most notable being podcasts about business (14%), news and politics (12.8%), sports (9.3%), culture and society (9.2%), and comedy (7.3%).
(Source: Beetlemoment.com)
41. 17% of listeners would consider brands that are advertised in podcasts.
37% of listeners are slightly more likely to see ads, 39% are indifferent, 3% are less likely to see brands, and 4% would not. This shows that podcasts are good for advertising if marketers build a trusting relationship with their audience.
(Source: Edisonresearch.com)
42. 64% of listeners think podcasts are good channels for brand advertising.
More than half of people who listen to podcasts think that these online shows and brand ads are a good match. If they listen to them frequently, they have the opportunity to discover new brands that could perfectly meet their needs.
(Source: eMarketer.com)
43. NYTimes, Wondery, and TAL/Serial are among the most profitable shows.
The top three podcasts in terms of earnings are NYTimes, Wondery, and TAL. Research conducted by Lime.link in August 2019 shows that NYTimes had 9,312,000 downloads during that month. Wodery had 9,261,000 downloads, and TAL/serial had a total of 5,469,000 downloads this month.
NYTimes earns the most on average per single ad. However, Wodery has the highest annual income, estimated at $7.78 million. This is because Wodery broadcasts an average of 3.5 commercials per episode, while NYTimes only airs 2.
(Source: Lime.link)
44. National Public Radio podcasts have the most unique listeners per month in the United States (23.75 million).
As of December 2019, NPR podcasts had over 23.75 million unique users in the United States. They also had 54 million downloads in 2014, which is 24 million more than in 2012. iHeartRadio was in second position with 23.33 listeners.
(Source: Statista.com)
45. The Joe Rogan Experience is the most profitable podcast, earning $30 million per year.
Rogan is the king of podcasts right now and the numbers show it. He currently earns 3 times more per year than the Dave Ramsey Show, which tops out at $10 million per year. Armchair Expert is third with $9 million and the Bill Simmons podcast earns $7 million a year.
(Source: Forbes.com)
Summary
These podcast statistics show the growth of podcasts over the past few years.
However, these statistics also help aspiring podcasters learn more about their potential audience. The podcasting industry is alive and well, but there's definitely room for more people to join and start earning money in this way.
