U.S. Report
Podcast company Acast has shared its first pair of Acast Audio Intelligence Reports. The quarterly reports offer analyses of podcast listening in the United States and the United Kingdom, with Australia to be added at a later date. “This research is crucial to understanding where the industry is headed,” said Susie Warhurst, Acast’s UK director of content. “The more we know about how people behave and what they think, the better we can make our offering.”
In the U.S., Acast found that an estimated 29% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the past month. The company’s infographic shows stats on frequency and duration of listening sessions. A third of podcast listeners say they tune in to learn something new. Comedy is the top genre from listening over the past three months, followed by news and politics.
UK Report
Just shy of a quarter (23%) of the UK population has listened to a podcast in the last month. The motivations are different for UK listeners, with 37% tuning in to relax. For both markets, about two-thirds of podcast listeners are in the 16-34 age bracket. Comedy is also the top genre in the UK, but music/TV/film is the second most popular.
Acast also looked at who is not being reached by podcast advertising in both regions. People who pay for premium services to go ad-free are the largest unreached group for both, 90% in the U.S. and 84% in the UK. Acast noted that this group dislikes disruption more than they dislike advertising, and thus recommended tailoring ad messages to fit the tone of the podcast.