In recent years, podcasts have taken the digital world by storm.

With more than 460 million listeners worldwide, the podcast industry provides lucrative opportunities for both podcasters and marketers alike and offers an effective way for you to connect with your target audience.

To put it into perspective, there are currently over 5 million podcasts in the world, boasting over 70 million episodes between them. Crazy right?

In this guide, I’ll give you some fascinating stats about:

Podcast Statistics at a Glance

The podcasting landscape is booming, with millions tuning in for their fix of audio entertainment and education. Taking a look through all of our statistics will benefit your podcast, but if you don’t have time to go through everything, here are a few of the top podcast stats you should know.

• There are over 464 million podcast listeners worldwide, which is projected to reach 504.9 million by 2024.
• The average listener spends a whopping 7 hours per week glued to their favorite podcast app.
• Episodes between 20-40 minutes reign supreme, catering to busy schedules and attention spans.
• Podcast listenership transcends gender, with women slightly edging out men (48% vs. 43%).
• Podcasting isn’t just an American phenomenon. Sweden and Norway have the largest number of monthly listeners by percentage of internet users
• Video podcasts are on the rise, offering a new dimension to audio storytelling.
• Spotify and Apple Podcasts lead the pack, battling for global audio dominance.
• Peak listening time in the morning, with most episodes enjoyed on mobile devices.

Now it’s time to take a look at some fascinating podcast statistics. While podcasting may have originated in the United States, there are now listeners in every corner of the globe, and these stats highlight just how popular it is.

Let’s dive into all the latest podcast stats:

Podcast Growth and Trends

The number of global podcast listeners has grown significantly since 2019.

Let’s take a look at the number of people who have tuned into podcasts around the world over the past few years.

Podcast Growth Rate Per Country

Below you’ll find some of the fastest-growing nations in terms of podcasts, with South America showing a massive increase in interest.

How People Discover Podcasts

Podcast enthusiasts discover new content through various channels, with 40% of listeners exploring new podcasts by utilizing in-app search bars.

Other common ways include:

• Talking to friends or family
• Listening to other podcasts
• Internet searches

Podcast Market Size

So, just how big is the podcasting industry worldwide?

Turns out, it’s an over 23 billion dollar industry as of 2023, but this growth is projected to increase to over 100 billion before 2030.

Here’s a detailed table:

Popular Podcast Platforms

Podcast listeners utilize various platforms, and popular go-to choices for many include Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Here are stats showing the percentage of total listeners on each platform:

How Many Podcasts Are On The Top Two Platforms?

As of January 2023, Spotify recorded almost 5 million podcast titles on its platform, while Apple Podcasts has 2.5 million.

Podcast Listening Behavior Trends

The go-to device for podcast listening is the smartphone, with a whopping 73% of users choosing it, while laptop and desktop listening lag behind at only 13%.

Additional devices used to listen to podcasts include:

• Tablets
• Digital music players
• Voice-activated speakers

People mainly listen to podcasts through headphones (71%), while the rest (29%) choose to listen through speakers.

When Do People Listen to Podcasts

To understand why podcasts have grown in popularity, let’s take a closer look at when people listen and what they’re doing while tuning in.

Interestingly, 59% of people listen to podcasts while doing something else at the same time. 32% of people tune in while driving or traveling, while 59% consume podcasts while at home.

People frequently tune in while working, doing household chores, exercising, or during moments of relaxation and idleness.

The prime podcast-listening hours typically range from 10:00 to 15:00. However, a study by Jay Harrison reveals that listening also peaks during weekday evenings.

The same study shows that more people listen to podcasts during the week as opposed to weekends.

Podcast Listener Demographics

When it comes to podcasts, it’s interesting to unpack who is listening to the content. If you’re planning on starting your own podcast, you’ll need to determine your target audience from the get-go.

By Age:

• 66% of podcast listeners in the United States are aged 12-34.
  

  

• According to a 2022 Edison Research study, 50% of podcast listeners in the United States aged 12-34 had listened to a podcast in the last 30 days.
• In the same study, 43% of podcast listeners aged 35-54 had listened to a podcast episode in the last 30 days, making them the fastest-growing group of listeners.
• Over 25% of American podcast listeners aged over 55 listen to podcasts on a monthly basis.
• 28% of Americans aged 65 and older listen to podcasts.

By Gender:

• 56% of podcast listeners in the United States are male.
• 44% of American podcast listeners are female.
• In the UK, 53% of podcast listeners are male and 47% are female.
• 44% of podcast listeners in Australia are female and 56% are male.
• In Canada, 46% of podcast listeners are female and 54% are male.

Podcast Listeners Per Country

Podcasts are popular worldwide, but some countries spend more time tuning into podcasts than others. Let’s have a look at how these are distributed around the globe.

The following countries have the largest number of monthly listeners by percentage of internet users:

Popular Podcast Genres

The most popular podcast genre in the US by share of weekly listeners is comedy, with 22%.

The other most popular genres are:

Bonus Podcast Genre Statistics:

• 34% of US adults who have engaged with podcasts in the last 12 months consistently tune in to podcasts dedicated to true crime.
• Female podcast listeners are almost twice as likely to listen to podcasts about true crime than male podcast listeners.
• 7% of US podcast listeners aged 30-44 listen to sports podcasts on a daily basis.
• Podcast genres with the highest completion rate are True Crime and Fiction.

Popular Podcast Channels

Below, I’ve gathered stats for the top podcast channels on Spotify in some of the countries with the highest podcast listeners.

Here are the top podcast channels in the US:

You can check out which Podcasts are the most popular in each country on Spotify’s podcast charts.

Podcast Downloads

Despite Spotify being the go-to platform for streaming podcasts, a significant majority of podcast downloads, over 70%, occur through Apple Podcasts.

In contrast, Spotify users tend to download less, and the platform lags behind with only 8.9% of download requests.

Here’s a breakdown of the most popular apps for offline listening:

How Many Downloads Does the Average Podcast Get?

On average, podcasts that have been live for 30 days get around 141 downloads within the first month.

It might sound modest, but given the immense pool of podcasts out there, the competition for downloads is fierce. Plus, as a podcaster, you’re not just after downloads, you’re also after listens.

Additionally, the average download numbers vary significantly between niches. More specialist podcasts might receive fewer downloads compared to those covering broader topics.

How Podcast Rank Affects Downloads

Does the rank of a podcast actually make a difference in how many users listen to and download episodes?

Turns out, it does. The top 1% of podcasts get nearly 4,000 downloads within the first 7 days of release.

These stats illustrate just how much of a difference a podcast’s rank makes to its download numbers:

Podcast Duration

The length of a podcast can vary greatly. Some are really short at less than 10 minutes but some, like The Joe Rogan Experience, are often longer than two hours. However, the majority of podcasts are between 20 and 40 minutes long.

Here’s a table breaking down how long the average podcast is:

Podcast Marketing Statistics

If you haven’t added podcasting to your marketing strategy yet, it’s worth considering. Over 50% of marketers are already using podcasts to reach their target audience, and it won’t be long before this industry becomes even more competitive.

Currently, investing in podcasts or podcast advertising is an excellent avenue for start-ups to bolster their brand growth. However, given the anticipated expansion of this industry, it’s advisable to get started sooner rather than later to stay ahead of increasing competition.

Video Podcast Statistics

Also known as vodcasts, video podcasts are also making waves in the podcasting industry. They combine audio and visual content, tailoring it to diverse audiences while offering something unique.

Since the podcasting industry is growing rapidly, so is vodcasting.

Here are some stats to prove it:

• Around 17% of podcast hosts record their episodes in both audio and video format
• In 2023, the Podcast Index listed 50,000 video podcasts, growing from around 39,000 the previous year
• According to a Morning Consult study, 32% of podcast listeners in the US prefer video podcasts to audio-only podcasts

Podcast Advertising Revenue

The number of people who listen to podcasts continues to rise astronomically. But what does this mean for the amount of revenue that’s generated?

Let’s take a look at some intriguing statistics that illustrate the economic podcast boom!

• Podcasting became a billion-dollar industry in 2021, and in 2023, podcasting revenue is expected to reach $2.3 billion in the US alone. That would be a 24.8% increase on the previous year.
• In 2024, it’s estimated that podcasting ad revenue will hit the $4 billion mark.
  

  

• The overall digital ad market grew by 12% in 2022, but podcasting ad revenue grew by 26%.
• The IAB’s US Podcast Advertising Report states that 70% of ad revenue comes from podcasts that post bi-weekly or weekly episodes.

Ad Revenue Share By Podcast Genres (US)

1. Sports: 15%
2. Society & Culture: 14%
3. Comedy: 14%
4. News & Politics: 12%

How Podcast Creators Make Money

There’s clearly money to be made in podcasting.

Payment for these ads typically depends on the number of impressions the ads get, and the more listeners you have, the more impressions you’ll get.

This is how much revenue the most common types of podcast ads make:

• Host-read ads: Adverts read by hosts account for around 55% of podcasting ad revenue
• Announcer-read ads: 40% of podcast ad revenue comes from ads read by announcers
• Brand or Agency read ads: Adverts produced by brands or agencies make up only3% of podcast advertising revenue.

But, if you don’t have many listeners yet, there are alternative methods to kickstart your earnings. These include:

• Affiliate marketing: This involves promoting a service or product and earning commissions for the sales made via your affiliate link.
• Premium content: You could try charging an extra fee for listeners to access exclusive content that’s not available on your regular podcast feed. You could set up a subscription, having certain episodes that are only available to paying subscribers. Many podcast hosts release free episodes on platforms like Apple Podcasts and also release episodes on Patreon for their paying subscribers.
• Video monetization: You could make video recordings of your podcast as well as audio recordings and then upload your videos to YouTube, where you can monetize them with YouTube ads.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Podcasts

With the rise of AI, it’s interesting to have a look at how it impacts podcasting.

It’s predicted that AI-enabled podcasting will be worth $3 billion at the start of 2024.

Here are stats around Generative AI and podcasts:

• AI-powered podcasts saw a 500% growth in 2022.
• AI has the potential to reduce costs for podcasters by up to 50%.
• According to a study by Acast, 85% of listeners believe that it’s ethical for podcasters to use AI in creating podcasts.
• The same study also found that 84% of podcasters and 57% of podcast listeners believe that AI tools like ChatGPT and Canva will improve the quality of podcast content.
• A survey by Headliner discovered that 66% of podcasters are leveraging AI to improve their podcasts.

Additionally, the same study by Headliner revealed podcasters are using AI in the following ways:

• Image generation
• Social media help
• Transcription
• Copywriting (eg. podcast notes)
• Podcast metadata
• Audiograms
• YouTube automation

Leveraging Podcast Statistics

Judging by the statistics alone, it’s clear that podcasts are incredibly popular all around the world.

Reviewing industry stats can be a valuable way to discover insights that can inspire your content strategy. You can find out what’s trending, generate content ideas, and find new ways to outdo your competition.

An awesome way to find content ideas is by using Semrush’s Topic Research tool. The tool will show you the most trending topics related to your niche.

All you need to do is type in your topic (I went with “running shoes”), select a region, and click “Get content ideas”.

On the next page, toggle “See trending subtopics first” on, and you get a collection of “cards” containing trending topics related to your keyword.

You can then take these trends into podcast topics for upcoming podcast episodes.

Final Thoughts

From connecting with your audience to boosting your ad revenue, podcasts offer a whole new range of possibilities. Plus, the numbers show a skyrocketing audience, diverse tastes, and some serious ad potential.

Considering the predicted size of the podcasting industry is set to be over $100 billion by 2030, now is the perfect time to add it to your digital marketing portfolio.

Do you have something interesting to share about podcasts? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear your thoughts.