2021 Global Podcast Statistics, Demographics & Habits

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How many podcasts are there?

Our research found as of March 2024 there are over 2,000,000 podcasts and over 48 million episodes.

Check out the rest of the global podcast listener statistics, demographics, and facts here:

Podcast Demographics

United States

  • 75% of the US population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
  • 50% of all US homes are podcast fans
  • 55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast
  • 37% (104 million) listen to podcasts at least every month
  • 24% (68 million) listen to podcasts weekly
  • 16 million people in the US are “avid podcast fans”
  • 51% of podcast listeners are male, 49% female
  • Age of listeners:
    • 12-34: 48%
    • 35-54: 32%
    • 55+: 20%
  • 63% of podcast listeners are white
  • 41% of monthly podcast listeners have household income over $75K (vs 29% for US population)
  • 25% of US podcast listeners have a 4-year college degree (vs 19% of US population)
  • 51% employed full-time (vs 44% of US population)

Canada

  • 63% of the Canadian population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
  • 36% listened to a podcast in the last month
  • 23% listened to a podcast in the last week

Australia

Recently Updated May 2020

Awareness in Australia is much higher than the US, but listening is much lower.

  • 87% of the Australian population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
  • 30% of the Australian population has listened to a podcast
  • 25% listened to a podcast in the last month
  • 17% listened to a podcast in the last week

Italy

  • 26% (7 million) listened to a podcast in the last month
  • Percent of age range that has listened to a podcast in the last year:
    • 18-34: 52%
    • 35-44: 47%
    • 45-54: 46%
    • 55+: 31%

Podcast Listening Habits

United States

  • 90% of podcast listening is done at home
  • 64% listen while driving
  • Podcast listeners subscribe to an average of 6 shows
  • Podcast listeners listen to an average of 7 different shows per week
  • 93% listen to all or most of each episode
  • Podcast listening on a computer went up from 29% to 31%
  • 19% of listeners increase the speed
  • 65% of monthly podcast listeners have been listening for less than 3 years
  • Comedy, education, and news are the most popular podcasting genres.

Canada

  • 91% of podcast listening is done at home
  • 35% listen while driving
  • 24% listen at work
  • Podcast listeners listen to an average of 5 different shows per week
  • 81% listen to all or most of each episode
  • Mobile podcast listening went from 59% to 75% (2018 to 2019)
  • 27% of listeners increase the speed

Australia

  • 81% of podcast listening is done at home
  • 45% listen in a vehicle
    • 14% of all in-car listening is to podcasts (up from 12% in 2019) 
  • 18% listen on public transportation
  • 14% listen at work
  • 9% listen while working out
  • Podcast listeners listen to an average of 6 different shows per week
  • 85% listen to podcasts on a mobile device
  • 11% listen on a computer

Italy

  • 78% listen at home
  • 30% listen in a car
  • 26% listen on public transportation

Podcast Advertising Stats

  • 81% of podcast listeners pay attention to podcast ads
  • 63% say they sometimes or always ignore TV commercials
  • 66% sometimes or always ignore digital ads
  • 61% sometimes or always ignore billboards
  • 59% sometimes or always ignore radio commercials
  • 60% of podcast listeners have bought something from a podcast ad
  • 72% of people who have listened to a podcast for four or more years have made a purchase
  • 54% are more likely to consider the brand advertised (only 7% are less likely)
2019 Podcast Statistics infographic US
Image source: podcastinsights.com

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Sources For Podcast Statistics: