Recognizing International Podcast Day (September 30), podcast giant Acast has released a new consumer research study: Podcasting Trends in Established vs. Emerging Markets. The field work (conducted by consumer research company Attest) surveyed 2, 600 weekly podcast listeners across 13 established and emerging markets.
The key takeaway is that podcast listeners invest significant amounts of time listening, and that holds true in both emerging and established markets. “Significant, through this lens, means six hours a week or more. The graph below compares podcast listening time-spent with radio listening.
The metrics above might continue to rise, especially in emerging markets where 51% of respondents are “expecting to spend more time” listening to podcasts in coming months.
The comparison to radio is emphasized:
“Radio’s decline in recent years has, and will continue to be, podcasting’s gain. Listeners are leaving radio, but not audio.” — Podcast Trends in Established vs. Emerging Markets, Acast
Putting a number against that assertion, Acast found 44% agreement with the statement. Further, TV suffers even greater abandonment in this study among the most devoted podcast listeners: 53% of daily listeners (in established markets) reported reducing their commitment to TV streaming services in the past year.
While podcast consumption studies are statistically interesting, and help define the market, they are also aimed at advertisers and agencies. In this one, Acast measured engagement, interest in the ads, and the funnel from listening to purchasing. Respondents were queried about the likelihood of listening to podcast ads compared to other channels. The result is gratifying for the international podcast industry:
Listening is one thing; purchasing is another. Acast’s study asserts: “High levels of ad consumption in podcasting translates to actual purchases.” Specifically — and this metric is for the American audience only — 50% of respondents have made a purchase at least once because of a podcast ad. Within that metrics, 33% of respondents have done so more than once.
Daily podcast listeners seem to be specially responsive to podcast ads, with 60% claiming to listen-and-buy:
Other points covered in Acast’s 25-page release deck:
- Expect podcast listening to move beyond relaxation to commuting and doing daily tasks.
- More than half of respondents say thast podcast hosts feel like friends. (The venerable podcast intimacy factor.)
- Social media and YouTube are key discovery environments globally.
- YouTube is more than discovery; it is the most-used listening platform.
- Listeners in all tested markets are likely to have watched a video podcast.
- Watching podcasts increases the host-as-friend factor.
- 24% of listeners (in the established markets) have attended a live podcast event. Acast expects this trend to follow in emerging markets.
- Live podcast events are “huge” in the U.S.
- 49% of listeners in emerbing markets would consider paying for additional content by favorite hosts.
It’s only fair, in such a data-rich presentation, that Acast lays out its industry credentials:
As always, we recommend looking at the source, which is freely available HERE.