Podcasts have undoubtedly taken the world by storm.

When commuting on trains, strolling at community parks, working out, and doing many other activities, the best time to kill time is to listen to a podcast episode.

Welcome to 21st-century entertainment—where knowledge and skills can be discussed in an hour’s worth of episode.

In this article, we will discover how many podcasts there are in 2024.

Surely, there are many. But this type of content consumption has recorded a growth rate never seen before. Put your headphones down and let’s get right into it.

How Many Podcasts Are There in the World in 2024?

According to the latest reports, the number has reached 5 million in 2024!

Suddenly, all people are creating their respective podcast channels after getting they themselves got hooked on this type of content consumption.

In 2019, numbers are only half a million, but as people scrapped for different sources of fun and personal development, podcasting has become popular among people of all ages.

In the second quarter of 2021, podcast episodes hit a high of 48 million!

All About Podcasts

With its immense popularity, some of you might have already listened to a podcast episode or heard one from a fellow commuter.

For those with zero ideas what this type of content is all about, do not worry! We got you covered.

Have you listened to a radio station at one point in your life? If you did, chances are you may find podcasting similar to it.

A podcast is a pre-recorded audio episode that focuses on a particular theme or topic.

More often, it is a pure audio file that users can download and listen to offline.

But there are also instances where podcast episodes are accompanied by videos.

How Long Should a Podcast Episode Last?

While many episodes last from 30 minutes to an hour, podcasts can come in any length—as short as a minute’s worth of content, depending on the creator.

Posting also depends on the channel, some prefer posting bi-weekly, others like to update once a week, while there are also creators posting only once a month or more seldom than this.

Lastly, a podcast episode can be standalone, meaning only you will do the talking and explaination.

Today, many creators invite ‘guests’ to their content to talk more about a topic in a conversational manner.

Most Popular Podcast Topics in 2024

Podcasts talk about a wide array of topics ranging from serious government issues to the most random happenings in the world.

Before starting any channel, content creators think about a specific target audience.

From here, they will start feeding on topics anchored to their target audience. 

Below are some of the most popular podcast topics in 2024, according to Statista:

  • Comedy – 22%
  • News – 21%
  • True Crime – 18%
  • Sports – 17%
  • Health and Fitness – 17%
  • Religion or Faith – 16%
  • Politics – 16%
  • Self-help or productivity enhancement – 15%
  • Investigative Journalism – 13%
  • Finances – 13%

Podcasts Listener Statistics

In the past six years leading to today, podcasting has managed to gain traction and amass a huge number of following.

Along with its greater acceptance as a form of entertainment came an improvement in the number of audiences which is expected to grow further in the next two years.

Below is a data on worldwide podcast listener statistics from 2019 to 2024:

  • 2019 – 274.80 million listeners
  • 2020 – 332.20 million listeners
  • 2021 – 383.70 million listeners
  • 2022 – 424.20 million listeners
  • 2023 – 464.70 million listeners
  • 2024 – 504.90 million listeners

Podcast Annual Growth Rate from 2019 to 2024

Meanwhile, here is podcast industry’s compounding annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 to 2024:

  • 2019 – 22.6% growth
  • 2020 – 20.9% growth
  • 2021 – 18.7% growth
  • 2022 – 20.3% growth
  • 2023 – 22.0% growth
  • 2024 – 23.5% growth

As can be seen, podcasting has enjoyed a compounding annual growth rate (CAGR) above 20%, except for 2021.

It is expected to maintain the pace and hit a record-high advance in 2024.

Podcast Listeners by Ethnicity

As podcast episodes have become a worldwide phenomenon, a diverse number of ethnicities are joining the podcast listening bandwagon.

Take a look at this content’s user demographics in terms of ethnicity:

  • White – 57%
  • Hispanic – 16%
  • African American – 13%
  • Asian – 4%
  • Others – 10%

In terms of ethnicity, whites continue to dominate podcast listener demographics and accounted for more than half of the total.

Specifically, Americans are the biggest fans of this type of content, with 47.9% of podcast’s total listeners coming from the United States.

Podcast Listeners by Age in the United States

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Credits: unsplash.com

Being the world’s biggest podcast market, find out which age group accounts for the biggest number of podcast listeners in the United States:

2020

  • 12 to 34 years old – 49%
  • 35 to 54 years old – 40%
  • 55+ years old – 22%

2021

  • 12 to 34 years old – 56%
  • 35 to 54 years old – 39%
  • 55+ years old – 26%

2022

  • 12 to 34 years old – 50%
  • 35 to 54 years old – 43%
  • 55+ years old – 22%

The 12 to 34 age group accounts for the biggest podcast market in the United States and occupied 49%, 56%, and 50% of the total market from 2020 to 2022

Podcast on Spotify

Music streaming app, Spotify, has also invested a huge sum of cash to develop its podcast department.

To be exact, the Swedish audio giant allocated $1 billion to strengthen its position in the industry and acquired Gimlet Media in 2019. 

Just three years after its investment, Spotify is beginning to see the fruits of its hard work.

As of its latest financial update for the full-year 2021, podcasts brought $215 million into Spotify’s pockets, with 1.2 million new episodes published on the platform during the year.

According to the streaming giant, podcasts accounted for more than 20% of its new followers during the same period.

Podcast on Amazon

Another popular podcasting hub is Amazon Music. Currently, it holds more than 70,000 free episodes enjoyed by its 55 million subscribers worldwide.

Conclusion

There you have it! The answer to the question, how many podcasts there are in the world in 2024, is 5 million!

Podcasting has enjoyed massive growth in popularity over the years as people searched for new forms of entertainment that are convenient and easy to consume.

You can now put your earphones back and enjoy your favorite podcast channel. Enjoy learning!

Sources

PodcastleTheBestMediaThe Podcast Host
BuzzsproutInfluencer Marketing HubNews Room
StatistaForbes