Broadcasting and entertainment giant Audacy has released the latest in a seemingly unending streaming of industry podcast endorsements. The thesis of this one is that the expansion of podcasting is understated; the audio category isn’t only dominating — podcasts are dominating, and revealing changes in audience behavior.
That, in fact, is the title of the released study: Podcasts Are Dominating — and Signaling a Shifting Audience Behavior. (Freely available HERE.)
The study takes a metaphysical tone when laying out the premise.
“In a world where time is fixed, where is that additional listening coming from?? And the answer is downright SciFi: “Time isn’t expanding. It’s shifting.” –Audacy
It’s about down-to-earth numbers in the end. Two survey outputs indicate that time spent with podcasts is replacement time.”
- “Nearly four in ten podcast listeners say the time they spend with podcasts is replacing time spent scrolling social media.
- “Another 34% say it’s replacing time spent listening to streaming music.”
And the data findings below illustrate the media categories on the short end of the shift:
Social media, live TV, and streaming music are yielding audience to podcasting.
Audacy seems to be nursing a grudge when it hammers home this point:
“Podcast engagement runs deep: Every single day, Americans spend more time with podcasts than they do on the social media platforms that we talk about dominating our lives.” — Audacy: Podcasts Are Dominating — And Signaling a Shifting Audience Behavior
More hammering happens as we scroll down the report. Below, a graph illustrating the minutes-spent domination of podcasting:
Not to leave streaming music out of the graphic comparisons, Audacy shows us this:
We see that podcasting line (purple) reaching up to cross the music line (blue), which it does in what appears to be Q4 2021.
Interestingly, the podcast margin of success narrows in 2024, and we look forward to seeing how this chart evolves in coming years.
Listening metrics are important, but the rubber really meets the road on the business side when tracking ad-supported listening time against ad-free listening time. Audacy dives into that measurement below, and we see ad-free listening growing compared to ad-supported listening time, and overtaking it.
Audacy calls podcasting “The medium brands can’t ignore.” Attributes important to advertisers include trusted hosts and deeper engagement. “Podcasts are sought not served,” Audacy concisely observes. The proof lies in this metric:
76% percent of podcast listeners say they have purchased a brand after hearing a podcast host-read advertisement. — Audacy (from the Audacy Screener Survey, February 2025, age 13+).
See all the details HERE.
https://audacyinc.com/insights/podcasts-are-dominating-and-signaling-a-shifting-audience-behavior/