There’s new research shows podcast listening in the United States has declined, with some important implications for how you market your branded podcast.
Last week, Edison Research unveiled its latest Infinite Dial, which details consumer trends in audio, social media, and podcasting. This new report shows that for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, podcast listenership has declined and listeners have shifted from listening at home to in the car. And there are a ton of other interesting takeaways.
Let’s dive into the things you need to know.
Online audio is up, podcasts are down
As more people have gotten back on the road, online audio — defined as AM/FM radio stations online and any streaming audio connected to the internet — has gotten more listeners.
An estimated 192 million people are listening to online audio on a weekly basis.
Meanwhile, the share of podcasts being listened to in cars increased 6 percentage points from the first quarter of 2021 to Q4 of 2021.
That’s a good thing, but also clashes with everything else we’re now learning about podcasts.
Edison Research found that of all audio sources, podcast listening claimed only 5% of the share of listeners. Its competition includes online audio, AM/FM radio, and owned digital music.
Podcasting’s share is down from 6%.
Monthly and weekly podcast listening is down, too.
74 million people listen to podcasts at least once a week, and 109 million people listened to at least one podcast monthly. That’s down from 80 million weekly and 116 million monthly.
Taken together, we know that listening habits have changed over the course of the pandemic and are currently leveling out.
But there are other important takeaways for branded podcasts.
- More people than ever in the U.S. have now listened to a podcast (an estimated 177 million)
- Podcast listeners are becoming more diverse in terms of ethnicity, age, and gender, with Hispanic listeners increasing their share of the listenership by 5 percentage points since 2017
- Weekly listeners average at least 8 podcasts a week, up from 5.1 last year
More people are being attracted to this medium, and the most engaged listeners are listening to more podcasts. So there are more opportunities to target, find, and engage with your key stakeholders.
That’s good!
Actionable intel
The greatest growth of listeners has been those who are
- 55 and older, and
- Hispanic
The top platforms of choice for online audio are
- Spotify (35%)
- YouTube Music (18%)
- Pandora (15%)
- Apple Music (12%)
- Amazon Music (9%)
- iHeart Radio (6%)
- Other (5%)
The percentage of social media users who have used social audio
- Twitter Spaces (2%)
- Clubhouse (1%)
- Spotify Greenroom (1%)
Podcast listeners are predominantly using
- Facebook (68%)
- Instagram (64%
- TikTok (45%)
- Pinterest/Twitter (38% each)
When podcast listeners are asked what social media platform they use most often, they say
- Facebook (40%)
- Instagram (21%)
- TikTok (12%)
- Snapchat/Twitter (8% each)
So my immediate follow-up question for podcasters is, how is your brand showing up on those platforms? And where do you put your focus?
Getting your branded podcast discovered
Podcast discovery is always top of mind for me. This latest report doesn’t address that, but we know that one of the key drivers of podcast discovery is YouTube.
In December, Edison Research’s senior vice president Tom Webster described the importance of YouTube for podcasting as the “easy button” for finding content and getting quick recommendations, something other major platforms lack.
“[YouTube] might even recommend the next thing that captivates you,” Webster said. “You might even be there for four hours before you know it. It’s built for that. It’s built for discovery. It’s built to grab you in the moment, and keep you there with one video after another. It’s not purpose-built to subscribe to a podcast. But it is built for you to find one.”
(Just a quick tip for using YouTube as a podcasting platform: Have a video element. It’s unclear if an audio-only video using a static graphic helps or hurts your videos/podcast. But I do know some video element helps. Making this small effort goes a long way.)
YouTube is also taking strategic steps to highlight podcasts on its platform. Their plans reportedly include ingesting RSS feeds directly, a homepage dedicated to podcasts, and Google-sold audio ads, setting up similar revenue-sharing opportunities for audio creators as it has done for video. I’ll be watching these developments closely, but it’s safe to say that YouTube should be included in your branded podcast marketing plans.
Another option for podcast discovery
I would also suggest utilizing the Goodpods app (available on iOS and Android) for your branded podcast. Goodpods is purpose-built for podcast discovery. It’s like a social media app, but for podcasting. Users can see what their connections are listening to and take advantage of a powerful groups function, much like Facebook.
If you decide to join, you can follow me there to see what I’m listening to and sharing.
Survey results
Several of you were kind enough to share your frustrations with podcasting and audio storytelling with me.
I asked you what your greatest frustration was with podcasts and podcasting. There were two fundamental answers I received.
- Poor audio quality
- There are too many podcasts
One comment I received summed it up this way:
“[I] sometimes find them rambling without a point, or trying too hard to be edgy.”
😬
I’m going to talk more about that through this newsletter and at ZMC. Stay tuned.
I also asked you where you go to learn about podcasting, and I heard a wonderful variety of answers. Some of you are using Google and YouTube, others are using Spotify and word of mouth. I hope I can be that resource for you here, too.
Lastly, many of you expressed wanting to learn more about best practices, how to start, how to produce, and getting your podcast discovered.
For those of you, you’re in the right place. Stick with me, and we’ll explore all of those topics in greater detail.
One last thing …
If you’ve been following my brand ZMC for a while, you’ll notice that some things have changed. We’ve added yellow to our palette, for one. (It was not something I expected.) And last month we completed a full brand redesign.
Let me know what you think of the new website and logos. They were designed by Adebukola Ajao and Jaslyn Ferguson.
While ZMC Podcasts started as a solo effort, it has now expanded to include freelance audio producers and engineers. We’re a blooming agency, and I hope to bring on more contributors soon.
That’s a wrap for this month. Let me know your thoughts, feedback, recommendations, or questions on your branded podcast by leaving a comment or reaching out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn. If you want more content like this in your inbox, sign up for my monthly newsletter here.