The “early innings” meme expressed by many leaders of podcast publishing and advertising appears proved out in the 2021 edition of The Infinite Dial 2021. In weekly listening, which indicates podcast listening as a steady aspect of audio lifestyle, went up from 24% to 28% — a 17% increase. That’s impressive growth. At the same time, 28% (which Infinite Dial estimates to represent 80-million 12+ Americans) leaves room for 72% more uptake.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans (162-million people) have listened to a podcast ever, a slight gain from 55% last year. Monthly listening sits at 41% (116-million), up from 37%. More men listen than women, as has been the case for at least four years.
The age breakdown of monthly podcast listening is interesting. Note the surging growth in the youngest set, while the middle-age cohort is stable. Older listeners are flocking into it, perhaps indicating that as people age out of the 35-54 bracket they take their podcast listening with them into the older group.