Coleman Insights conducts podcast brand study: Joe Rogan is the winner

In an interesting piece of consumer research, Coleman Insights has determined that The Joe Rogan Experience enjoys the highest podcast brand recognition — by far.

The survey was fielded in May, Coleman is announcing today, with what appears to be a simple premise. One-thousand 18-64-year-old monthly podcast listeners were asked to name the podcasts with which they were familiar. Joe Rogan’s show was mentioned by 14% of the survey cohort. It was not required that respondents had actually listened to any podcast they named; the study was only about podcast brand awareness.

Would you imagine that Serial might take the top spot in this survey? Not even close: Serial (generally regarded as the catalyst for the podcast resurgance of the past five years) was named only by six percent. The only shows notching more than 3% recognition were The Daily, This American Life (an archived radio program), and My Favorite Murder.

Coleman Insights President Warren Kurtzman offered these observations: “This study makes the importance of branding in podcasting crystal-clear. On the one hand, we see how big of a brand Joe Rogan has relative to every other podcasting brand. On the other hand, the leading brand is top-of-mind with only 14% of podcast listeners, and he started his show 10 years ago! Figuring out how to cut through and be memorable is a real and daunting, but exciting, challenge for podcasters.”

Today’s survey snippet is a teaser for Coleman’s full presentation at Podcast Movement later this month.

Brad Hill