Back-and-Booming! That is how one article described the state of podcasts. One might point out however, that said article was published in 2013—certainly if podcasts were booming then, they must be exploding now, right? Well in 2013, 27% of Americans had ever listened to an audio podcast.[i] In 2014 that number jumped to a whopping…30%. But, to be fair, there has been a lot of new energy and excitement surrounding podcasts. Recently there has been an increase in attention to the medium by mainstream media corporations looking for new ways to engage with consumers and audiences. Considering also the breakout success of the Serial podcast and the widely acclaimed shows produced by the startup Gimlet Media, the renewed podcast hype is understandable, yet probably not wholly deserved. A recent study looking at 2015 podcasting trends show that now 33% of people have ever listened to a podcast—a modest growth over the previous year.[ii] Though Serial is an extremely popular podcast, having held the number one spot on iTunes for many weeks on end, only 10 percent of the population is aware of the show’s existence and only 3 percent have actually listened to the show.[iii] Three percent however still represents tens of millions of Americans.
For podcasters and regular listeners of podcasts, let’s call them podcastees, it can be easy to see the growing number of podcasts, the increasing media coverage of top shows, and attribute that a general explosion in the popularity of podcasts. That could one day be the case…however currently it is not. A probable explanation for such a perception may be the fact that weekly podcast consumers listen to an average of six podcasts per week.[iv] If this is increasingly the case, it could certainly explain the growth in the volume of shows and downloads as there would be greater overall demand. Such would not necessarily indicate an explosion in the total number of podcast listeners however. As it stands, the large majority of people have never listened to a podcast, relegating podcasts to the realm of obscurity. That being said, the future dominance and widespread adoption of podcasts seems inevitable.
Again, to be clear, millions of Americans regularly listen to podcasts. The world is much bigger than America and many podcasts have listeners from all over the globe. Since 2006, the percentage of Americans who have listened to podcasts has consistently increased, with an average growth of roughly 2 percent per year.[v] It would not be surprising to see a much larger increase in new listeners through and beyond 2016 as the primary means of listening to podcasts—via smart phones—continues to be adopted by an ever larger percentage of the population, exceeding 2 billion devices this year. Additionally with people moving away from broadcast radio consumption while driving, opting instead for on-demand music and audio via downloaded playlists, streaming services, or in-dash systems, don’t be surprised if we see exponential growths in multiple metrics measuring podcast popularity in the coming years. With the diverse subject matter podcasts cover, anyone should easily be able to find at least one show that tickles their fancy. If not, well one need only check back soon. At the rate many people believe podcasts will grow, there will inevitably be podcasts on the nicheiest of niche topics—which is a wonderful thing in the age of hyper-connectedness and global cyber communities. So if you have an interest or hobby that does not yet have a its own dedicated podcast, now would be a good time to get in the game and make one as the number of potential consumers and the number of other podcasts vying for their attention will soon be much more numerous.
[i] The Podcast Consumer 2015, Edison Research, see page 4
[ii] Repeated source: The Podcast Consumer 2015, Edison Research, see page 4
[iii] Repeated source: The Podcast Consumer 2015, Edison Research, see page 12
[iv] Repeated source: The Podcast Consumer 2015, Edison Research, see page 11
[v] Repeated source: The Podcast Consumer 2015, Edison Research, see page 4