Popular podcast platforms and publishers
The publishing of podcasts is not only limited to streaming services focusing specifically on podcasts content. For example, the most popular podcast publishers worldwide are IHeartPodcasts with about 377 million unique streams and downloads, followed in third position by NPR with more than 162 million unique streams and downloads. Both media companies had initially started their businesses in radio broadcasting and later expanded their offer to publishing podcasts. Up until today, podcast publishers managed to meet their customers’ demands and offer podcast content in every imaginable genre: comedy, lifestyle, education, or true crime, to name just a few of them. In fact, comedic and cultural podcasts belong to the most popular genres among listeners from the United Kingdom.While hosts and publishers are responsible for the content and the creation of podcasts, streaming platforms are the ones making the content available to millions of listeners every day. Being available on a number of different streaming services, such as Spotify and Audible as well as other media giants like Apple and Google, is one of the main reasons why podcasts have become the convenient and accessible medium they are today.
Podcast consumers – an audience in transition
The growing interest in the medium is mirrored in the global number of podcast listeners, which is expected to have surpassed the threshold of half a billion listeners worldwide as of 2023 and is likewise predicted to show further global growth in the upcoming years. This growth potential can be achieved through yet unexplored audiences. Over the last few years, podcasts have overall been a medium enjoyed by younger generations. For example, around half of Australians aged 18 to 39 call themselves weekly podcasts listeners, whereas older generations fall short of these figures as of yet. This is where the potential lies for the industry, in encouraging and capturing the attention of the older generations.Likewise, the consumption of podcasts has not yet developed equally everywhere around the globe. Data from 2022 suggests that the share of podcast listenership is still relatively low in populous regions like South-east Asia. Not even one out of six internet users in China, Japan or South Korea claim to have listened to at least one podcast per month, indicating a gap in the market that can be filled.
Overall, podcasts have managed to establish their place within the media landscape and have developed into a crucial part of the audio industry in recent years. Thanks to their content diversity as well as their ease of use, podcasts are becoming an integral part of consumers’ everyday lives. Forecasts suggest that this number of podcast listeners will still be increasing in the future, especially if the media manages to reach new unexplored demographics.
