READ MORE: The Podcast Consumer 2024 by Edison Research (Edison Research)
More people than ever are listening to podcasts and with a diverse, young and increasingly female-skewed audience the media should be prized by advertisers, according to the latest annual research from Edison Research, with support from Cumulus Media and Sirius XM Media.
According to the study, 67% of Americans aged 12 and over has ever listened to a podcast; 47% of them are monthly podcast listeners and 34% listen weekly. That’s an estimated 98 million weekly podcast listeners ages 12 and older in the country.
In addition, listeners are spending more time than ever with podcasts. In 2014, out of the daily time spent listening to all audio by those age 13+, 2% was spent with podcasts. In 2024, that number more than quadrupled and podcasts now account for 11% of daily time with audio. Twenty-three percent of weekly podcast listeners spend 10 hours or more listening to the medium each week.
“Each one of these figures are record highs,” Megan Lazovick, VP at Edison Research, said in a recent webinar. “In 2006, we first started collecting information about podcasts listening. That year 11% of the US population had ever listened to a podcast.
“At first we saw relatively slow growth year over year. And then in the late 2010s, there was much more generous growth. We have now reached the highest point ever in 2024 with 67% of those in the US — an estimated 192 million people — listening to podcasts.”
Podcasts reach all generations: 29% of kids ages 6-12, 59% of those aged 12-34, 55% of those aged 35-54, and 27% of those aged 55+ are monthly podcast listeners.
“The composition of podcast listeners has drastically changed over the past decade,” said Lazovick.
Forty-eight percent of Black Americans and 43% of Latino Americans are monthly podcast listeners. — both at an all time high. In 2014, 67% of monthly listeners were white. In 2024 that percentage has dropped to 58%.
“Monthly podcast listeners aged 12 and older have become more diverse in the last decade,” she said. “The racial composition of monthly podcast listeners 12 and older now closely mirrors that of the general US population.”
The number of US women listening to podcasts has also hit a new high as 45% of women are monthly podcast listeners (six points up on 2023), and 32% are weekly podcast listeners.
Click here to view a larger version of this graphic.
“The gap that used to exist between male monthly listeners and female monthly listeners is nearly eliminated. This is a big part of the story for podcasts in 2024. The growth in podcasts reach is driven by large increases among the number of female listeners.”
Since 2014, the average time spent listening to podcasts has grown by 450% and podcast’s share of the entire audio market has risen, too: from 11% in 2020 to 20% today.
“At least 20% of audio [advertising] buys should be on podcast content,” Lazovick underscored. “I said ‘at least’ 20% because we found that podcast audiences are especially receptive to ads.”
Not surprisingly, The Record, Nielsen’s audio listening report made in conjunction with Edison’s research, agrees with this stat.
It found Americans are spending more than four hours with audio every day, with radio taking 70% of that and 20% devoted to podcasts, while the rest goes to streaming audio (music services) or satellite radio (select channels). Most radio listening happens in the car.
“There are more podcast listeners than ever. Americans are spending more time than ever with the medium. Podcasts reach all generations and Podcasts are equitable with diverse and increasingly female listeners,” Lazovick summed up.
“Those listeners are desirable,” she said. “Podcast listeners are a highly coveted audience for advertisers. They’re affluent and they’re educated. Finally, podcasts are effective. They reach receptive audiences and podcasters have the metrics to help advertisers match the consumers they need to reach.”
READ MORE: The Record: U.S. audio listening trends powered by Nielsen and Edison Research (Nielsen)
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