Essential podcast statistics and trends for marketers [Infographic]

In 2009, Apple released an advertising campaign titled There’s An App For That.

The memorable campaign aimed to showcase how many apps Apple devices offered their customers.

10 years later, I’d argue you could update the phrase to, “There’s A Podcast For That.”

Musicoomph’s Meteoric Rise of Podcasting infographic shares the insights you need to know in order to understand the growing marketing value of podcasts and the future they have in the audio landscape.

Podcasts have revolutionized how we share and absorb information

As a die-hard podcast listener, my listening ranges from baseball and content creation to coaching and leadership.

Whether I am looking for information on playoff baseball predictions or how to be a fearless leader, there is a podcast that wants to talk all about it.

Podcasts have quickly become a place where listeners can go for news, industry updates, motivation, relaxation, or even a good laugh.

This shift in the audio landscape is not a fluke either.

Podcasts are growing

Podcasts are expanding at an incredible rate.

In 2018, there were over 550,000 active podcasts with more than 18.5 million unique episodes.

In just one year, 2019 active podcasts have increased to 700,000 with more than 29 million unique episodes.

This growth is leading to significantly more interest. And driving that interest is a new wave of podcast listeners

Who is listening?

As marketers, a common challenge we face today is how to connect with the new age of consumers, both literally and figuratively.

Younger audiences are gravitating towards podcasts, with almost half (46%) of podcast listeners in the United States being Millennials or Generation Z, ages 18-34.

For some businesses, this younger demographic is the target, and podcasting has now opened their eyes to a potential avenue for connecting with that audience, but for most, their company’s target audience is not so narrow.

Let me fill in some of the gaps:

• 94% of all podcast listeners are considered very active on at least one social media platform.
• 52% of listeners are male, 48% are female.
• Podcast listeners are 45% more likely to have a college degree, and 68% more likely to be postgraduates.

For marketers of all stripes, an audience of non-gendered, educated, technologically-proficient people is a veritable goldmine.

Unfortunately, knowing all of this information only solves half the problem.

I can tell you are wondering:

I understand that all of these educated, tech-savvy men and women are listening to podcasts. But what podcasts are they listening to? Where can I find them?

What are they listening to?

The truth of the matter is, there is no one podcast genre performing remarkably better than the others, which is exciting!

Instead, podcast listeners are taking in a range of different podcasts, averaging seven different shows per week, equalling roughly six and half hours of content per week.

That is a lot of time being spent listening to podcasts.

And while it may be easy to assume that this listening takes place during a commute to work or while exercising, it was found that 49% of listeners actually do their podcast listening at home.

Could this lead to more influenced purchases? We sure hope so. 

How about podcast advertising?

Podcast advertising grew 53% in 2018 and is projected to grow 42% in 2019.

This growth has been proven to be worthwhile as consumers are showing strong engagement with podcast ads.

69% of podcast listeners agree that ads in podcasts inform them about new products or services available. Plus, with Google’s implementation of podcasts in search results, your advertising could gain even more listeners if you partner with the right podcast.

What do you do next?

Podcasts present a very unique opportunity for businesses to connect with new and existing customers in a new way.

If you or your business are exploring podcasts, I highly recommend you begin with Musicoomph’s Meteoric Rise of Podcasting infographic below and all the knowledge it has to offer.

Happy podcasting!

Infographic by MusicOomph.com