The NPR-produced hit Serial has become the poster child for the surging podcast category, cited in most articles about increasing listenership and advertiser interest. NPR chief Jarl Mohn spoke to the Associated Press recently about the network’s reliance on podcast storytelling generally, to attract new audiences and new income.
One key fact Mohn revealed is revenue growth of podcasts — up 200% since 2013.
Significantly, with that money comes a non-traditional demographic to NPR storytelling content. Mohn said that the average podcast listener is 37 years old, while the average radio listener is 54.
“We don’t have to change the essence of who we are to get a younger audience. We just need to tell great stories,” Mohn told the AP.
Mohn’s comments came against a backdrop of data publicized by National Public Media called Who Is the NPR Podcast Listener? (Infographic here.) The result of a public radio podcast listener survey conducted by Edison Research, the results support the value of podcast advertising and radio sponsorship. The two are different — U.S. government regulations that limit how advertising works on broadcast public radio do not apply to digital products, so NPR podcasts have full-length host-read advertisements similar to commercial podcasts.
More info bits that pertain to NPR podcast listenership: it skews more affluent, and more educated, than “All Podcast Listeners,” and American adults generally.