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.

The number of monthly podcast consumers in the United States has been growing steadily. According to estimates, around *** million people consumed podcasts of any format in the month prior to the survey. This marked 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.

Introduction

Podcast Statistics: Podcasts have become a significant medium for information and entertainment, revolutionizing content consumption globally. In 2024, the global podcast market reached USD 30.03 billion.

A podcast is an audio program available on the internet, typically released in episodes, allowing users to download and listen on demand, enhancing accessibility. In the United States, 67% of individuals aged 12 and older have listened to a podcast, with 47% engaging monthly and 34% weekly. Globally, podcast listenership is projected to reach 504.9 million by 2024, indicating a steady upward trend.

Demographically, 59% of U.S. individuals aged 12-34 are monthly podcast listeners, followed by 55% aged 35-54, and 27% aged 55 and above. The medium's appeal is further evidenced by 46% of weekly podcast listeners reporting product or service purchases based on podcast advertisements. Additionally, 23% of weekly listeners spend 10 hours or more engaging with podcasts each week. These statistics underscore podcasts' expansive reach and influential role in modern media consumption.​

Introduction

Podcast Statistics: The popularity of podcasts is growing quickly around the world. By the end of 2024, it's expected that over 504.9 million people worldwide will listen to podcasts. On average, people spend about seven hours a week listening to their favorite podcasts. Popular platforms like Apple and Spotify draw millions of listeners each day.

By 2025, Apple is likely to have 29.2 million listeners, while Spotify is expected to reach 42.4 million. Let's take a closer look at more interesting Podcast Statistics and numbers about podcasts and how they are used around the world and in the United States.

Podcasts have become a popular way for people to learn, entertain themselves, and stay updated on various topics. More people listen to podcasts every year, and the industry is growing fast. With millions of episodes available, podcasts cover almost every subject, from news and education to health and storytelling.

This article explores key podcast statistics, including the number of people who listen, their favorite topics, and how podcast trends are changing. It also examines the growth of the podcast industry and how creators make money from their content. Understanding these statistics helps businesses, advertisers, and creators see how podcasts are shaping the way people consume information and entertainment in today’s digital world.

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.

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.

According to a study from 2024 podcasts were especially popular in Spain and the United States, where ** percent of respondents respectively stated that they had listened to a podcast in the last month. Among the selected markets, podcasts were the least popular in Japan, with only ** percent of surveyed people saying that they had listened to a podcast within the month prior to the study.

According to a January 2024 survey of users in the United States, one-third of respondents reported they enjoyed their podcasts as audio content. In comparison, 25 percent of respondents reported they preferred video podcasts. Approximately 30 percent of respondents among U.S. consumers reported their choice depended on the content they were consuming.

According to a study on podcast listening in the United States in 2024, 79 percent of weekly podcast listeners stated to have consumed video podcasts. While 72 percent of the respondents indicated to watch video podcasts actively, 62 percent also stated to let the video content play in the background while they were listening to the audio.

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Podcast Market Size 2025-2029

The podcast market size is forecast to increase by USD 33.44 billion at a CAGR of 39.9% between 2024 and 2029.

The market is experiencing significant growth, fueled by the increasing proliferation of podcast platforms and the rising use of data analytics for targeted content and advertising. This dynamic market is characterized by intense competition among podcast service providers, as they strive to cater to the diverse and inconsistent user preferences. Advertisements have emerged as a significant revenue stream, with advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies enabling targeted advertising and transcription technology enhancing accessibility. The availability of a wide range of podcast genres and topics, coupled with advanced analytics capabilities, enables providers to deliver personalized content and targeted advertising, enhancing user experience and engagement.
However, this competitive landscape poses challenges for companies seeking to differentiate themselves and maintain a loyal user base. Effective strategies for content creation, user engagement, and data-driven marketing will be essential for companies looking to capitalize on the opportunities presented by this evolving market. With the proliferation of subscription-based services and playback devices, such as media players, computers, IPods, and mobile phones, podcast listeners have unprecedented access to a wide range of content.

What will be the Size of the Podcast Market during the forecast period?

Explore in-depth regional segment analysis with market size data - historical 2019-2023 and forecasts 2025-2029 - in the full report.
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In the dynamic market, reach and impact continue to soar, with podcast partnerships and sponsorship opportunities driving growth. Podcast advertising networks optimize ad formats, including pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll, to maximize ROI for advertisers. Audio mastering ensures high-quality sound, while podcast content repurposing and syndication expand reach across various platforms. Podcast downloads and plays remain key engagement metrics, with podcast charts and ratings shaping listener preferences.
Podcast collaboration, sound design, and cross-promotion foster community and innovation. Podcast apps provide convenience, while podcast video content adds visual appeal. Podcast ad rates vary based on audience size and demographics, making it essential for businesses to assess potential returns before investing. Media players, computers, iPods, mobile phones, and smartphones enable easy access to audio learning resources and podcast directories.

How is this Podcast Industry segmented?

The podcast industry research report provides comprehensive data (region-wise segment analysis), with forecasts and estimates in 'USD million' for the period 2025-2029, as well as historical data from 2019-2023 for the following segments.

Type

  Interviews
  Conversational
  Solo
  Panels
  Repurposed content


Genre

  News and politics
  Society and culture
  Comedy
  Sports
  Others


Platform

  Streaming services
  Dedicated podcast apps
  Web-based platforms
  Smart speaker integration


Geography

  North America

    US
    Canada
    Mexico


  Europe

    Italy
    Spain
    Sweden
    UK


  APAC

    China
    India
    Japan


  Rest of World (ROW)

By Type Insights

The interviews segment is estimated to witness significant growth during the forecast period. The market is experiencing significant growth and innovation, with interview-led shows playing a pivotal role in audience engagement. Podcasts cater to diverse consumer interests, from business and technology to entertainment and wellness. Interviews feature dynamic conversations between hosts and a range of guests, including experts, industry leaders, celebrities, and everyday individuals with captivating experiences. This format fosters authenticity and connection, enabling listeners to explore various narratives and gain valuable expertise. Podcast production software, technology, and editing tools facilitate seamless content creation and distribution. Consumption habits continue to evolve, with listeners embracing shorter and longer episodes.

Content marketing, sponsorships, and transcription services enhance podcast monetization strategies. Ethical considerations, branding, and community building are essential components of podcast business models. Hosting platforms, licensing, and distribution networks ensure widespread access to diverse podcast content. Innovation in podcast technology, transcription, and monetization continues to shape the industry landscape. Furthermore, blockchain technologies have also entered the podcasting space, providing secure and decentralized distribution channels for podcasts.

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The Intervie

According to a survey on podcast consumption in the United Kingdom in 2024, 34 percent of respondents who listened to podcasts at least once a month did so while doing housework. Another 43 percent stated that they consumed podcasts while they were at home relaxing.

Podcasts are more popular than ever in France, as well as all around the globe. While ** percent of respondents listened to podcasts in 2019, that number jumped to ** percent in 2024. That same year, ** percent of podcast consumers listened to podcasts weekly.

According to a survey led among French podcast listeners in 2024, ** percent of them were interested in general news, making it the most sought-after topic. About ** percent of podcast consumers were interested in gaming-centered podcasts.

In 2024, Spotify was the most popular app for podcast listening among Polish users in terms of download numbers. The Swedish audio streaming app has been downloaded over *** million times in Poland over the observed period of time.

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.

Global Podcasting market size is expected to reach $134.68 billion by 2029 at 29.5%, rising internet penetration fuels podcasting market growth

ABSTRACT

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Rumble has emerged as a prominent platform hosting controversial figures facing restrictions on YouTube. Despite this, the academic community’s engagement with Rumble has been minimal. To help researchers address this gap, we introduce a comprehensive dataset of about 6.7K podcast videos from August 2020 to December 2022, amounting to over 5.6K hours of content. Besides covering metadata of these podcast videos, we provide speech-to-text transcriptions for future analysis. We also provide speaker diarization information, a collection of ~250K unique representative images from podcast videos, and face embeddings of ~400K extracted faces. With the rise of the influence of podcasts and populist figures, this dataset provides a rich resource for identifying challenges in cyber social threats in a relatively underexplored space.

• Rumble platform: http://rumble.com/
• Link to paper: https://workshop-proceedings.icwsm.org/abstract.php?id=2024_07
• License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Dataset Summary

iDRAMA-rumble-2024 is a large-scale dataset of 6,735 podcast videos from Rumble, an alternative Youtube-like platform. Using state-of-the-art models, we extract information across three modalities: 1) text, 2) audio, and 3) video. We detail the methodology for extracting information from podcast videos in the paper and release a first-of-its-kind dataset including data from different modalities:

• Metadata: Details about podcast videos, e.g., channel name, video name, video description, and more.
• Text: Transcription (i.e., speech-to-text) of podcast videos.
• Audio: Speaker diarization information providing speaker detection over time for each video.
• Video: Sampled representative video frames from each video, totaling 200K images. We also detect ~400K non-unique faces from these images and release face embeddings.

Repository links

• Zenodo: On Zenodo, we provide JSON formatted dataset for all modalities and representative images in compressed files.
• Github: The main repository of this dataset, where we provide code snippets to get started with this dataset.
  • Link here: https://github.com/idramalab/iDRAMA-rumble-2024
• Huggingface: On Huggingface, we provide a dataset that can be accessed through Huggingface APIs in a `parquet` format.
  • Link here: https://hf.co/datasets/iDRAMALab/iDRAMA-rumble-2024

Dataset Info

The dataset is organized by modalities -- transcripts, representative images, speaker diarization, and face embeddings.

Zenodo Dataset Files Info

Authorship

This dataset is published in the "Workshop Proceedings of the 18th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media" hosted in Buffalo, NY, USA.

• Academic Organization: iDRAMA Lab
• Authors: Utkucan Balci, Jay Patel, Berkan Balci, Jeremy Blackburn
• Affiliation: Binghamton University, Middle East Technical University

Licensing

This dataset is available for free to use under terms of the non-commercial license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Citation

@article{balci2024idrama,
title = {iDRAMA-rumble-2024: A Dataset of Podcasts from Rumble Spanning 2020 to 2022},
author = {Balci, Utkucan and Patel, Jay and Balci, Berkan and Blackburn, Jeremy},
year = {2024},
journal = {Workshop Proceedings of the 18th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media}
}

Podcast Attribution Analytics Market Outlook

As per our latest research, the global podcast attribution analytics market size reached USD 675 million in 2024, driven by the increasing adoption of data-driven advertising strategies and the rapid proliferation of podcast content worldwide. The market is expected to grow at a robust CAGR of 16.2% during the forecast period, with projections indicating the market will reach USD 2.1 billion by 2033. Key growth factors include the rising demand for accurate podcast campaign measurement, the expansion of podcast listenership, and the evolution of sophisticated analytics platforms that cater to advertisers, publishers, and brands seeking to maximize their return on investment.

The growth of the podcast attribution analytics market is primarily fueled by the exponential increase in podcast consumption across various demographics. As podcasts become a mainstream medium for both entertainment and information, advertisers are allocating larger portions of their marketing budgets to this channel. This shift necessitates advanced attribution analytics to track listener engagement, measure campaign effectiveness, and optimize ad placements. Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into analytics platforms is enhancing the precision of audience segmentation, enabling more targeted advertising and improved ROI for brands and agencies. These technological advancements are not only attracting new entrants into the market but also prompting existing players to innovate and expand their service offerings.

Another significant growth driver is the evolving regulatory landscape and increasing emphasis on data privacy. With global regulations such as GDPR and CCPA shaping the way user data is collected and processed, podcast attribution analytics providers are investing heavily in privacy-compliant solutions. These efforts are aimed at ensuring transparency and building trust with both listeners and advertisers. As a result, the market is witnessing the emergence of privacy-centric analytics tools that offer granular insights without compromising user confidentiality. This trend is expected to further accelerate market growth as brands prioritize compliance and seek partners that can deliver actionable insights within a secure framework.

The competitive dynamics within the podcast attribution analytics market are also contributing to its expansion. Major industry players and innovative startups are collaborating with podcast publishers and advertising networks to develop integrated solutions that streamline campaign management and performance tracking. These partnerships are fostering the development of end-to-end analytics ecosystems that cater to the unique needs of the podcasting industry. Additionally, the increasing availability of APIs and plug-and-play integrations is making it easier for advertisers and publishers to adopt attribution analytics, thereby broadening the market’s reach. As the ecosystem matures, the focus is shifting from basic metrics to advanced analytics that provide deeper insights into listener behavior and content performance.

Regionally, North America remains the dominant market for podcast attribution analytics, accounting for the largest share of global revenue in 2024. This leadership position is attributed to the high concentration of podcast listeners, mature advertising markets, and early adoption of advanced analytics technologies. Europe and Asia Pacific are also witnessing significant growth, driven by rising podcast popularity and increasing investments in digital advertising infrastructure. While Latin America and the Middle East & Africa currently represent smaller market shares, they are expected to experience above-average growth rates due to expanding internet penetration and a burgeoning creator economy. This regional diversification is creating new opportunities for analytics providers to tailor their offerings to local market dynamics and regulatory requirements.

Component Analysis

In Italy, the podcasts audience has significantly increased over the last years, going from **** listeners in 2018 to **** million listeners in 2024. In the recent years the number of podcast enthusiasts has grown by roughly ****million per year.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Amazon was the leading podcast advertiser in the United States. Its podcast ad spending for the quarter stood at **** million U.S. dollars, while that of Activision amounted to **** million. The total 2024 podcast ad spend in the U.S. was estimated at **** billion U.S. dollars. Podcast ad spending in the U.S. is expected to continue to grow, with expenditures projected to surpass *** billion dollars by 2026. Podcast advertising is growing up Podcast ad spending in the U.S. was forecast to grow by more than ***** percent in 2025. The leading industry category in podcast advertising was arts, entertainment, and media, followed by financial services. When it came to the top genres in podcast ad spending, 2022 witnessed an important shift. For the first time in five years, news was surpassed by sports, comedy, and society and culture as the leading content categories for podcast ad spend.