If the headline seems startling, it’s for good reason. Over a ten-year span podcast listening has gradually overtaken spoken-word AM/FM radio in time spent. This milestone metrics comes from Edison Research and its continuing Share of Ear project.
Spoken-word audio includes podcasts and non-music radio stations. In this study, radio includes both delivery formats — over-the-air and streaming.
The chart below illustrates the decade-long tracking of both modes, starting in 2015 when AM/FM commanded the situation with 75% of the daily spoken-word audience. At that time podcasting owned just 10%.
Year by year, with only one small reversal of the trend, AM/FM share declined. At the same time, podcast share increased annually except for one small reversal of that trend.
