85 percent of Norwegian respondents answer our survey on "Most used media services" with "Digital video content (download / streaming)". The survey was conducted in 2024, among 1,029 consumers.Access millions of exclusive survey results with Statista Consumer Insights.

According to a forecast from August 2023 on global podcast consumption, the number of podcast listeners worldwide has steadily increased and is predicted to rise even further. In 2023, the number of podcast listeners worldwide amounted to over *** million internet users, while this number was predicted to grow to more than *** million in 2027.

According to a data from April 2025, the number of podcasts reached roughly **** million that year. At the same time, the number of episodes stood at more than *** million published up to then.

The reach in terms of listeners in the 'Podcasts' segment of the advertising market in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total **** million users (+**** percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the reach in terms of listeners is estimated to reach ****** million users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the reach in terms of listeners of the 'Podcasts' segment of the advertising market was continuously increasing over the past years.Find more in-depth information regarding the number of users concerning the OTT video segment of the media market worldwide and the revenue growth concerning the traditional TV & home video segment of the media market in Poland. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

The number of podcast consumers in the United States has been growing steadily. According to estimates, around *** million people consumed podcasts of any format. This marks an increase of around ** million Americans. For the first time, these estimates included both audio and video podcasts, compared to previous years, when the data only covered audio consumption.

In 2024, a survey on podcast consumption revealed that ** percent of U.S. adults had either listened to or watched a podcast within the last month, a figure which has more than tripled over the past decade. Weekly podcast consumption has also sharply increased, and some of the world’s leading podcast publishers achieve millions of unique streams and downloads per month. Podcast consumption in the U.S. Once a niche format, podcasts have now become part of the mainstream media landscape. Between 2011 and 2025, the share of Americans who had ever consumed a podcast almost tripled, growing from ** to ** percent. As podcasts have grown in popularity, so has the variety of content available in the format. Some of the more popular podcast genres are music and comedy, but tens of millions of U.S. households have fans of sports, science, news and arts podcasts too. Podcasts are often also used as part of marketing strategies or to generate engagement between bloggers, news publications, or even different departments within a company. Like most forms of modern media, podcasts frequently include ads, and podcast ad revenue reached over *** billion U.S. dollars in the United States in 2023. By 2024, it is expected that advertising revenue in this sector will grow by around *** million each year and will exceed *** billion U.S. dollars in 2026. For U.S. consumers, podcasts are not just a source of inspiration or a way to escape from daily life but also an opportunity to educate themselves. In a survey held in early 2019, the majority of respondents said that their main reason for listening to podcasts was to learn new things. There are podcasts on philosophy, history, travel, and business, as well as much more including content aimed solely at educating children.

In October 2022, ** percent of Americans used YouTube to access podcasts, making it the most popular platform for adults in the United States. Slightly less popular was Spotify, with just ** percent of respondents in the survey naming it their preferred choice of provider. The rise of podcasts The term ‘podcast’ came from the merging of ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’, coined by a journalist in 2004. The first forms of podcasts known as ‘audio blogging’ date back to the 1980s, but until the early 2000s they remained a relatively obscure media format. With the popularization of MP3 devices (such as iPods), personalized on-the-go audio content grew in demand. Now the percentage of consumers in the United States who say they have listened to a podcast is more than double the share recorded a decade ago, and Americans rank among the most frequent podcast listeners worldwide. Podcasts: looking to the future The future of podcasting is bright and the format is seeing consistent annual growth when it comes to audience size. As far as consumers are concerned, younger generations are more likely to be listening to podcasts, although the variety of material appeals to users from a wide demographic. Podcasts develop niche audiences and an engaged fan base which advertisers can in turn target, and users from all age groups have shown a willingness to accept ad-supported podcast content. Ultimately, growth in listeners is shown across the board, and this media format can only be expected to increase in popularity.

During the latest annual survey in 2025, it was found that ** percent of US consumers listened to audio podcasts or watched video podcasts. For the first time, the study covered both audio and video podcast consumption, in contrast to previous studies which only surveyed audio consumption. Format aside, podcasts have grown increasingly popular in recent years, with the percentage of U.S. consumers saying that they had ever consumed a podcast more than ******** over the last decade.

In October 2020, it was found that the most popular podcast genre in the United States was comedy, with ** percent of respondents to a survey stating that they were very interested in podcasts designed to make them laugh. News podcasts and those based on true crime were also popular choices, as well as sport and health and fitness.<br><br><h2>Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular</h2>Podcasts have become a go-to form of audio entertainment, with digital episodes on different topics being either streamable or downloadable for easily accessible consumption. The number of podcast listeners within the United States is estimated to increase from **** million listeners to over *********** in 2024.<br><br> <h2>Podcast market leaders</h2>Within the constantly growing market for podcast, the globally leading podcast publisher in 2020 was iHeartRadio with 266.06 million unique streams and downloads. At the same time, a study found that Apple Podcast and Spotify were the most popular platforms to access podcast among Americans in 2020. Spotify was especially popular among the age group of 18 to 34 while younger and older consumers also often used Apple Podcasts.

It was estimated that in 2024 there will be *** million podcast listeners in Latin America, which will put the region almost on par with North America that year and set it up to surpass it by the end of 2027. Interestingly, China is expected to see similar numbers to Latin America in 2027, albeit starting much lower in 2023 - at *** million podcast listeners.

In March 2025, iHeart Audience Network had **** million audience members in the United States. A ranking of the unique monthly audience of the most popular podcast publishers showed that National Public Radio came third with just over **** million. iHeartPodcasts outperformed NPR in that respect, reaching a monthly audience of ***** million. Podcast streaming market While publishers play an important role in the creation of podcasts, streaming services providing a platform for podcast consumption also benefit from the rising popularity of the format. In 2022, the preferred podcasts providers were YouTube, followed by Spotify, Apple Podcast, Pandora and iHeartRadio, exceeding the popularity of Sirius XM and Stitcher. Considering the revenue generated by streaming services through podcast streaming in 2019, Spotify is the clear market leader with a revenue of *** billion U.S. dollars, followed by Stitcher and Wondery. Streaming services have realized the potential of podcasts, which is why they have started to invest in podcast creating and podcast streaming companies. In 2020, Spotify acquired The Ringer while competitor Sirius XM, after having purchased Pandora, obtained the successful podcast streaming service Stitcher. So far, these acquisitions seem to have proven successful, since Spotify is estimated to overtake Apple Podcast in terms of monthly podcast listeners in 2021. Popular podcast content In terms of content, the most popular genres within the podcast market in the U.S. are comedy followed by news and true crime. The podcasts with the highest revenue worldwide in 2019 were The Joe Rogan Experience, a Spotify-exclusive podcast hosted by the American comedian of the same name in which he talks to a wide array of guests, and My Favorite Murder, a bi-weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by the American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark in which they discuss true crime cases. While podcasts were already on the rise over the last few years, there has been an upsurge in podcast consumption during the last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which meant a higher demand in audio, or entertainment in general, content.

Brazil has the highest podcast users in selected countries worldwide. ** percent of consumers in Brazil listen to this kind of media. Following in second place is Indonesia, where ** percent of respondents consume this media type.Statista Consumer Insights offer you all results of our exclusive Statista surveys, based on more than ********* interviews.

According to a study from August 2022 on podcast consumption worldwide, **** percent of internet users in North America listened to a podcast at least once a month. In comparison, podcast consumption in Western Europe was slightly lower with **** percent during the same period. Overall, the share of podcasts consumers among internet users is to increase further until 2026.

According to a survey held in early 2025 in the United States, ** percent of respondents aged 12 to 34 years old had listened to a podcast within the preceding month, compared to ** percent of those aged 55 or above. Adults in the latter age category have been increasing their podcast listening consistently for years, to a point where respondents aged 35-54 almost caught up on the younger age category. Podcasts are gaining popularity This increased monthly podcast consumption shows the growing prevalence of the format in the United States. A survey on podcast consumption found that in 2012 only ** percent of U.S. respondents had ever listened to an audio podcast, but this figure increased annually and reached ** percent in 2025, by then also including video podcast consumption. Although this rise in popularity is significant, it might also reflect the generational gap in podcast consumption, with younger consumers tuning in more regularly than their older counterparts. In 2021, the share of Millennial podcast consumers in Canada and the U.S. amounted to ** percent, with Boomers only making up ** percent. Video podcasts The recently rising popularity of video podcasts also led to changes in platform usage among podcast consumers. YouTube has taken over the lead from Spotify as the main platform used to access podcasts in the United States as of April 2024, when the streaming platform attracted ** percent of podcast consumers, compared to ** percent for the Swedish competitor. YouTube's newly achieved competitive position in podcasting becomes even more obvious, when considering that almost two in three weekly podcast consumers associated the platform the most with watching and listening to podcasts. Only ** percent said the same about Spotify.

A study conducted in early 2025 revealed that ** percent of U.S. adults had either listened to or watched a podcast during the week leading up to the survey. This figure has been gradually growing since 2013. The surge compared to the previous year, when the share stood at ** percent, can also be due to the fact that the survey considered both audio and video podcast consumption for the first time in 2025.

In an online survey conducted in the United States in 2024, it was found that 34 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 years old reported that they used podcasts to get news at least sometimes, compared to just 14 percent of those aged 65 or above.

According to a study on podcast consumption in the United States in 2023, the most popular platform for listening to podcasts overall was Spotify. While the streaming giant secured a lead among the *******************, the group of *****************r preferred other services.

The source estimated that, in 2023, Mexico was home to approximately ** million podcast listeners. The figure was forecast to grow by ** percent by 2027 when it would reach ** million. Spotify and Google Podcasts were among the most popular podcast streaming platforms in Mexico in 2021.

The main reason given for listening to podcasts in the United States as of February 2019 was to learn new things, with ** percent citing this as the reason for enjoying podcasts and listening to them on a monthly basis. Other popular reasons for listening to podcasts regularly were to be entertained, to stay up to date and to relax or feel inspired.

During a survey conducted among podcast consumers in the United States in the first quarter of 2024, 37 percent of respondents said they found podcast ads to be interesting. This was followed by 33 percent stating they found them to be believable.