Recently released: The Podcast Landscape from Sounds Profitable, with its claim to be “the largest publicly available study of podcast consumption in the U.S. It documents a consumer survey in which 5,000 Americans (18+ in age) are queried about audience behavior. (It is freely downloadable HERE).
Starting broadly, the survey asked respondents whether they were familiar with the term “podcast.” Gratifyingly, 96% said Yes. Sounds Profitable executive Tom Webster had this remark to offer in his online presentation of the study:
“I have not met that four percent; I understand they are lovely people.” — Tom Webster, referencing a podcast listening metric: 96% of American adults are familiar with the term “Podcast.” Webster dryly observes: “I can probably delete this slide in the future.” (The Podcast Landscape 2025 Part One: Core Podcast Metrics” HERE.)
Several slides follow, digging into aspects of audience awareness and listener demographics.
In pretty much all podcast studies of the last few years, the respondents are asked about how video plays into their consumption. In this study, only 21% think of podcasts as audio-only. Do they pile into video? Not necessarily … only three percent conceive of podcasting as video only. The marketplace lives mainly across the two delivery modes:
Phones and computers are dominantly used for listening, leaving only 26% of respondents who use Smart TVs, in-car Bluetooth, tablets, and smart speakers. (Only one percent acknowledged using smart speakers, which seems eye-popping to us.
And the delivery source? YouTube wins that contest with relative dominance; 40% use YouTube, and the #2 source, Spotify, claims only 18%. There is stickiness here; when asked for a second most-used service, 26% of the survey field could not name one. Second and third places were taken by YouTube and Spotify, which were the overall second- and third-placers as well.
And Why?
The survey queried why people listen to podcasts, by listing potential benefits and asking how important each one is.
In exploring the “Why?” The study listed thirteen benefits of listening, and asked participants which benefits they align with.
There’s a fair amount of year-over-year stability in these results. In the query above, three years of results are shown, with very steady outcomes. Throughout the study, we see steady trends in podcast category choice — but more time spent listening.
Much more at the source, as always. Get it HERE.
