80-85 Million US Consumers Listen to Podcasts at Least One Hour Per Week, Finds Parks Associates
80-85 million US consumers ages 18 and older report they listen to a podcast for at least one hour each week.
The impact of rapid growth in the podcast market includes household audio equipment adoption, consumer behaviors across various platforms and genres, and crossover effects with the consumption of music services.
Smartphones are the most commonly used device for listening to podcasts, and YouTube is the leading app/website used to access podcasts.
Sarah Lee, research analyst, Parks Associates
New research from Parks Associates shows that 80-85 million US consumers ages 18 and older report they listen to a podcast for at least one hour each week. The research study, Podcasting: An Exploding Market, examines the impact of the rapid growth in the podcast market, including household audio equipment adoption, consumer behaviors across various platforms and genres, and crossover effects with consumption of music services.
The research firm reports smartphones are the most commonly used device for listening to podcasts and YouTube is the leading app/website used to access podcasts. Almost half of podcast listeners are 35-44 years old. Notably, podcast listening declines for ages 45 and older, indicating that content creators are overlooking this audience segment.
“Audiences self-select to listen to specific content, and the most popular means to discover new podcasts is through recommendations by friends and family. Since people often find new titles by asking people with similar interests, content creators will need to make extra efforts to attract a more diverse audience,” said Sarah Lee, research analyst, Parks Associates. “There is reward in expanding your reach, as currently more than 60% of podcast listeners pay some amount per month for a subscription. Consumers are also willing to pay for music services: 15% report use of the Spotify Premium service.”
The research includes insight into consumer spending on podcast content, equipment, and production; user experience and discovery sources; and segmentation by podcast listeners and producers, both professionally and personally. In addition, it addresses consumer adoption of music services.
For more information, please visit www.parksassociates.com.