25 Podcast Statistics, Facts & Industry Trends in 2024

The past few years have seen the rise in popularity of podcasts.

The topic of this article is podcast statistics, which will be addressed in the coming paragraphs.

We have scoured the internet to find the most current and relevant statistics about podcasts for you to read.

If you’re a podcaster, considering starting a podcast, a business, brand, influencer, marketer, or individual, these statistics about podcasts will be relevant to you.

We will start with a few key statistics that impact the entire globe in 2024.

Key Podcast Statistics

• There are over 4 million podcasts in the world as of 2023.
• Across 18 countries, there were over 383 million podcast listeners in 2021.
• In a 2022 Edison Research report showed that 90% of Australians know about podcasting.
• In 2022, 79% of the population in the United States of America said they were familiar with podcasts. 
• As of 2021, the English language is the most used language with 60.38% of the market share in podcast language content.
• Ireland’s volume of podcast usage is highest among all regions.
• 68% of podcast listeners listen to the full episode.
• By 2030, the global podcast market is set to be worth $130.63 billion. 
• A surprising 40% of Japan’s population that participated in a Reuters Institute 2021 survey said they don’t listen to podcasts due to lack of awareness. 
• 35% of podcasters publish an episode on a podcast platform every three to seven days. 

Global Podcast Statistics 2024

Podcasts are making an impressive showing all over the world.

The fact that virtually anyone from anywhere in the world has access to podcasting tools to get started helps the growth in this content. 

Podcasts have become a major avenue for creative expression.

The following podcast statistics will discuss the global impact of podcasting.

1. There Are Over 3 Million Podcasts in The World as Of January 2023, with Estimates in March of Over 4 Million.

According to our research, there are at least 3,074,641 registered podcasts all over the world.

Another resource reports that there are 4,015,147 registered global podcasts.

Of the over 4 million podcasts registered, 533,084 have published an episode in the past 90 days.

We need to inform you that not all registered podcasts are active.

That could be because content creators registered for one and are preparing to get started, or some may have registered for a podcast and have yet to follow through. 

Moreover, in the past 60 days, 473,441 podcasts published content.

In the past 30 days, that number is 390.593 and over the past 10 days, 268,423 podcasts have published content.

Finally, over the past three days, 125,159 podcasts have published content.

(Listen Notes 2023, Podcast Index)

2. Across 18 Countries, There Were Over 383 Million Podcast Listeners in 2021.

The 18 countries included in the data that there were over 383 million podcast listeners in 2021 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Findings from eMarketer showed that there were 274.8 million podcast listeners in 2019, 332.2 in 2020, and 383.7 in 2021.

The findings are from 2021, so the 2022 to 2024 figures are estimates based on podcast growth and changes. An estimated 504.69 million podcast listeners are predicted for 2024.

For 2023, an estimated 464.7 million podcast listeners are projected.

(Insider Intelligence: eMarketer)

3. In a 2022 Edison Research Report Showed that 90% of Australians Know About Podcasting. 

Australia has a higher percentage of people who are aware of podcasting than people in the United States.

In fact, 90% of people living in Australia over 12 years old said they are aware of podcasting. 

However, in 2021, 91% of Australians said they were aware of podcasting.

This slight decrease in podcast awareness is the first time that podcast awareness didn’t see a rise in Australia since 2017. 

For reference, in 2017, 72% of Australians said they were aware of podcasts. 

(Edison Research: The Infinite Dial 2022 Report Australia) 

4. In 2022, 79% of The Population in The United States of America Said They Were Familiar with Podcasts. 

Notice that the awareness of podcasts is 11% lower than that of Australians as of 2022.

However, the fact that only 20% of Americans were aware of podcasting in 2006, 79*% is a large rise in podcast awarness. 

In numbers, 79% accounts for about 226 million people in the United States who are aware of podcasting.

In 2019, podcast awareness in the United States achieved 70% and has grown steadily since. 

Between 2020 and 2022, podcast awareness went from 75% to 79%. This is considered slow, but steady growth.

(Edison Research: The Infinite Dial 2022 United States)

5. As of 2021, The English Language Is the Most Used Language with 60.38% of The Market Share in Podcast Language Content.

The language with the largest usage for podcasts is the English language.

English has a 60.38% market share out of podcast languages spoken.

This translates to over 1.7 million podcasts.  Spanish comes in second at 11.73% or 346,269 podcasts created in the Spanish language.

Portuguese has a 6.94% market share which translates to 205,381 podcasts and Indonesia has a 4.79% share which represents 141,771 podcasts.

German is the fifth most-used podcast language with 78,904 podcasts being in German, which is a global market share of 2.67%.

Regardless of the language used in podcasts, this is a wildly popular content type across the globe.

(Podcast Insights)

6. Ireland’s Volume of Podcast Usage Is Highest Among All Regions.

Statistics show that Ireland owns the highest usage of podcasts over all other countries.

Reuter’s Institute of Digital News Report for 2022 revealed that 46% of Ireland’s population had used a podcast over the past month. 

Sweden came in a close second to Ireland’s podcast usages at 44% and Norway came in at 42%.

These three countries’ populations used a podcast for over a month.

Where was the United States? In the United States, 37% of the population used a podcast over a one-month period.

The United States is in the top five of the volume of used podcasts over a one-month period behind Spain, which had a 41% usage volume.

(Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022)

7. 68% of Podcast Listeners Listen to The Full Episode.

According to data from mid-year 2022, 68% of podcast listeners listened to the full episode.

This is across devices, places, and activities engaged in when listening to podcasts.

Nearly half of podcast listeners listen to podcasts in their homes. 

Podcast listeners also listen in their car (14%), at work or school (16%), on public transportation or walking (19%), and other places (19%).

Also, 2% listen via virtual assistant speakers, 5% via iPod, 7% via tablet, 11% via laptop/desktop, and 73% via smartphone. 

On average, most people use their smartphones to listen to podcasts. 

(MIDAS Summer 2022 Report)

8. By 2030, the Global Podcast Market Is Set to Be Worth $130.63 Billion. 

At a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 27.6% between 2023 and 2030, it’s expected that the podcast market will grow to a worth of $130.63 billion (USD) by 2030.

The Grand View Research data also cited that the growth is somewhat because podcasts can be listened to when cooking, cleaning, exercising, gardening, traveling, and whenever and wherever they are. 

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, podcasters had an opportunity to grow, and they took it.

In fact, more podcasts were created and published during the pandemic across topics.

Podcasts that discussed the pandemic were especially popular. 

Several healthcare organizations and private healthcare companies began creating and sharing podcasts to spread awareness of the virus and all kinds of news and current data about it.

(Grand View Research)

9. A Surprising 40% of Japan’s Population that Participated in A Reuters Institute 2021 Survey Said They Don’t Listen to Podcasts Due to Lack of Awareness. 

A surprising 40% of Japan’s population admitted that they don’t listen to podcasts because they don’t know what they are in a 2021 Reuters Institute survey.

In 2021, the average percentage of Europeans unaware of podcasts accounted for 17% of the population.

The fact that other countries lag countries like Australia and the United States in podcast awareness shows that there is plenty of room for global growth in the podcast world.

The opportunities are massive, and the demand is high. 

Other reasons people say they don’t listen to podcasts is that because they are too long, or they haven’t found one that interests them.

That is what a potential podcaster should see as opportunities. 

(Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021)

10. 35% of Podcasters Publish an Episode on A Podcast Platform Every Three to Seven Days. 

Buzzsprout reported that roughly 35% of podcasts add a new episode to the hosting platform every three to seven days.

Another 40% are shown that content is published every eight to fourteen days.

As of February 2023, Buzzsprout shows that 177,856 new episodes were uploaded to hosting platforms and that 126,132,909 monthly downloads occurred.

Apple podcasts have the highest podcast hosting market share at 38.7%, with Spotify on its heals at 28%. 

We will share more about podcast hosting platforms in another section.

(Buzzsprout)

General Podcast Statistics 2024

Now that we’ve shared some global statistics and interesting facts, we will discuss some general podcast statistics you may find interesting. 

11. 2023 Data from Buzzsprout Shows that The Average Podcast Episode Lasts Between 20 and 40 Minutes.

The most current podcast data shows that 20 to 40 minutes is the most common length of a podcast at 32% (32% of podcasts last 20 to 40 minutes).

Furthermore, the second most common length for a podcast is 40 minutes to an hour at 21%.

Podcasts that last more than 60 minutes (one hour) make up 16% of episodes. 

In contrast, podcasts that last under 10 minutes and from 10 to 20 minutes share 15% of the length shares.

When you see these numbers, it can make more sense that some people would not listen because of the length of the podcast. 

Do you think you can learn about a topic in less than 10 minutes, or is that just a teaser podcast?

(Buzzsprout)

12. 88.9% of Podcast Listeners or Subscribers Listen on Their Mobile Devices.

Smart phones and tablets take the top spot in devices used to listen to podcasts.

In fact, 88.9% of those who listen to podcasts say they use their mobile devices to listen.

The fact that podcasts are intended to go with you and can be listened to anytime and anywhere makes mobile the easiest way to do so.

The number two-way people listen to podcasts is via computer, which is 6.2% of the market share.

Mobile devices well outweigh computer usage for podcast listeners. Smart speakers only have 0.8% and Smart TVs 0.4% of the market. 

The unknown device category has a 3.6% market share in how people listen to podcasts. 

(Buzzsprout)

13. As Of March 2023, the Arts Genre Is the Top Podcast Type.

What’s included in the Arts podcast genre?

All types and forms of art such as music, theater, literature, visual arts, etc.

The content usually includes things like the creative process, various art forms, historical context, cultural significance, etc.

The Arts genre in podcasts can be informative and entertaining, depending on the host.

Three top Arts podcasts include The Modern Art Notes Podcast, The Great Women Artists, and ArtCurious Podcast. 

If you’re into the arts, you may find a podcast that’s just to your taste.

(Castos)

14. Older Adults Enjoy Podcasts More than The Younger Crowd. 

60% of podcast listeners are 35 years old and older.

Among these 60% are the 35- to 54-year-olds with a 38% share in listening to podcasts and among those 55 and older, 22% of them listen to podcasts. 

The percentage of podcast listeners in the 15 to 24 age demographics is 17%, while the 25 to 34 demographic accounts for 23%.

Podcast listeners aged 55 and over are 52% more likely to listen to a podcast again. 

Also, podcasts seem to be most liked by men at 51%. Women have 49% of the market in podcast listeners.

It looks like the gender gap is narrower in this market than it is in some other markets. 

(MIDAS Summer 2022 Report)

15. The Joe Rogan Experience Achieved the Number One Spot for Most Listened to Podcasts in Late 2022.

Whether you like a host of a podcast or not doesn’t always impact its popularity.

The Joe Rogan Experience gained the top spot in the top 10 most listened to podcasts in the third and fourth quarters of 2022.

The rest of the top ten podcasts in order from number two to ten include:

• Crime Junkie
• The Daily
• This American Life
• Morbid: A True Crime Podcast
• The Ben Shapiro Show
• Stuff You Should Know
• Call Her Daddy
• Office Ladies
• My Favorite Murder

These are the most popular podcasts in the United States to be clear. 

(Buzzsprout)

Podcast Platforms and Apps Statistics 2024

We promised to let you in on the platforms and apps most used to listen to podcasts, and here we are. 

16. According to Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts Has the Market Share in Listeners as Of February 2023. 

In February 2023, Apple Podcasts has a 38.47% market share in listeners, giving this hosting platform the largest market share by a wide range.

Also, this hosting platform for podcasts gets over 48 million downloads. 

Spotify is the only podcast hosting platform that comes close to Apple Podcasts with 28% of the listener market share and over 32 million downloads.

Listening to podcasts via web browser is third with a 3.7% market share in listeners and over 4.5 million downloads. 

Google Podcasts (2.5%) and Apple iTunes (1.69%) are among the top five podcast hosting services with the most listeners. 

(Buzzsprout)

17. Research Shows that Spotify Has the Best Podcast Hosting Brand Awareness than Other Hosting Platforms. 

While Spotify is well below the level of listeners of Apple Podcasts (28% to 38.47%), it has been deemed the platform with the best brand awareness.

At 28% of listener market share, we could see it overtaking Apple Podcasts in time. It depends how they proceed. 

Spotify takes first place for its audio platform brand awareness with more than 80% of survey participants claiming to know the brand name.

In the prior year, Pandora had this spot in audio brand awareness, but Spotify took that spot in 2022.

Apple Music (72%), iHeartRadio (69%), Amazon Music (69%), and YouTube Music (69%) come after Pandora (79%), which is in second place now.

Looking at this data makes I feel like brand awareness among audio platforms (and podcasts) is overall high.

(Edison Research: The Infinite Dial 2022 United States)

18. Live Radio Still Seems to Be More Popular.

As odd as it may seem, live radio is still thriving and more popular than podcasts into mid-year 2022.

This includes all age groups and is not specific to an age group. Let’s look at some numbers on this.

By the way, the popularity of live radio came in at 71% across all age groups. 

Among those 55 and older, live radio has an 85% share in the audio market compared to 2% in podcasts.

The 35 to 54 aged demographics revealed that 76% prefer live radio compared to 6% of podcasts. 

The lowest age demographic was the 15 to 24 group at 33% for live radio to 11% podcasts.

A surprising statistic showed that among 15-year-olds, 71% preferred live radio compared to 5% podcasts. 

Let’s face it, the podcast market is still in it infancy at these figures.

(MIDAS Summer 2022 Report)

19. The Top Podcast on Apple Podcasts Is the Deck Investigates.

Audiochuck is the artist that hosts The Deck Investigates on the Apple Podcasts platform.

Currently this podcast has 16 episodes lasting 25 minutes and under.

You may have guessed, but this is categorized as a true crime podcast. 

High Strange is the next most popular podcast on Apple Podcasts with artists Tenderfoot TV and Cadence13.

This podcast is considered a drama and a Sci-Fi podcast that includes an alien abduction and more.

This podcast features 9 episodes. 

(Podcast Insights 2)

20. Crime Junkie Has Been on The Charts for 166 Weeks on I Heart Radio.

The podcast and music platform, iHeartRadio may not have the numbers that Apple Podcasts and Spotify have, but it still hosts some of the most popular podcasts on the planet.

One example is Crime Junkie, which has been on the iHeartRadio app/platform charts for 166 weeks. That’s over three years.

Other top podcasts you can find on iHeartRadio include Dateline NBC, Stuff You Should Know, Inside Jeopardy, and a new addition just out on the charts, The Mantawauk Caves.

The iHeartRadio app hosts over 5,000 podcasts across 15 categories, including comedy, finance, business, true crime, and entertainment.

On March 23, 2017, iHeartRadio announced that it had reached the 100 million registered users’ threshold. 

(iHeartRadio, iHeartRadio 2017)

Podcast Demographics 2024

In this section, we’ll address a few podcast demographics about podcast listeners that we haven’t already discussed.

21. In 2023, 57% of Podcast Listeners Are Caucasian in The United States.

In the United States, 57% of podcast listeners are White, or Caucasian in ethnicity. In 2011, this figure was 68%.

Podcasts are becoming more popular among all ethnic groups.

The rest of the list in ethnicity demographics about podcast listeners is as follows:

• Hispanic: 16%
• African American: 13%
• Asian: 4%
• Other: 10%

The United States makes up 47.9% of all podcast listeners. 

(BuzzSprout 2)

 22. In The United States, 55% of The 12 to 34 Age Demographics Listen to Podcasts.

The percentage of podcast listeners among age groups is 55% of those 12 to 34 years old.

Another 51% of those aged 35 to 54 listens to podcasts.

Only 21% of those 55 and older listen to podcasts. This data is from 2023 and is recent.

More than half of those aged 12 to 34 are listening to podcasts these days in the United States.

Podcasts are gradually gaining traction with the younger crowds.

Since the pandemic, the age demographics have shifted in the United States.

That said, 22% of those aged 55 and over listen to podcasts monthly compared to over 50% of those aged 34 to 44.

(Buzzsprout 2)

23. 93% of Podcast Listeners Do so Mostly when They Are Alone.

Podcasting doesn’t seem to be something many people do with others. In fact, 93% of listeners do so when they are alone.

When working or studying alone, that figure is 33%.

Another 22% responded that they listen to podcasts when they are driving or traveling. 

Additionally, 15% of listeners say they listen when they are doing nothing in particular or just relaxing, another 10% of listeners are tied between while doing household chores and when engagingin sports, exercise, or hobbies.

The study also showed that 4% of listeners said they listen while cooking, eating, or drinking, 5% said they listen when they are engaged in other activities, and 2% said they listen to podcasts when they are bathing, showering, and dressing.

(MIDAS Summer 2022 Report)

24. In 2023, It’s Expected that China’s Percentage of Podcast Listeners Will Account for 72.9%, Which Is One of The World’s Highest Percentages. 

Just because 72.9% of people in China listen to podcasts in 2023 doesn’t mean they will all subscribe.

Unfortunately, only 12.4% will become subscribers of a monthly podcast, which is one of the lowest rates on the globe.

In contrast, in Brazil 70% of people who use the internet will listen to podcasts in 2023.

While Brazil’s population of podcast listeners is lower than in China, Brazil will see rates of nearly 35% in podcast monthly subscribers (34.69%).

It’s worth mentioning that due to the high populations of China and Brazil, the volume of podcast listeners should come as no surprise. 

(TheB2BHouse)

25. The Peak Time for Podcast Listeners Falls Between 10 Am and 2 PM, with A Market Share of 26%. 

Most podcast listening occurs between 10 AM and 2 PM at 26%.

The second listening hours for podcast is at 25%, which falls between 6 AM and 10 AM.

Also, 21% of the time, podcast listeners are listening between 2 PM and 6 PM. 

The lesser peak times fall between 6 PM and 10 PM at 15%, 10 PM to 2 Am at 11%, and 2 AM to 6 AM at 3%.

Therefore, listening to podcasts is a daytime activity and less of a nighttime or night owl activity. 

This data represents the times when podcasts are listened to in the United States.

(Edison Research Weekly Insights 2022)

FAQs

Conclusion

It’s obvious that podcasts have their place among a diverse audience all over the world.

While there are some fluctuations in the popularity of podcasts since the pandemic, overall, the industry is showing solid growth.

Since this industry is still growing, now is the best time to get in on it before the market gets so saturated that you will have a challenging time trying to compete.

There are many niches that have yet to become podcast content, so it could be your time to shine and be creative.

It’s important to know what you’re getting into and to have patience in what you’re doing.

If you’re looking at podcasting as a source of income, you won’t see earnings for several months because it’s a business.

It’s important to love your topic and have a passion for sharing it via podcast to enjoy any level of success. 

We have included facts and figures for the global podcast market, specific countries, individual demographics, the industry at large, and some revenue figures for the podcast market. 

We hope you learned something from the podcast statistics for 2024 we shared with you in this resource.

We wish you happy podcasting!

Sources

Buzzsprout	Buzzsprout 2	Castos
Edison Research Weekly Insights 2022	Edison Research: The Infinite Dial 2022 Report Australia	Edison Research: The Infinite Dial 2022 United States
Grand View Research	iHeartRadio	iHeartRadio 2017
Insider Intelligence: eMarketer	Listen Notes 2023	MIDAS Summer 2022 Report
Podcast Index	Podcast Insights	Podcast Insights 2
Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022	Reuters Institute Digital news Report 2021	TheB2BHouse