Research firm eMarketer released two connected projections based on a consumer survey fielded in August.
“Spotify is still expanding its podcast listenership in the US, while Apple Podcasts’ has essentially stagnated.” –eMarketer
First, the company projects that Spotify podcast consumption will surpass Apple this year. The projection is based on responding users of any age who listen to podcasts via direct download or streaming, on any device, at least once per month. (That is a particular definitional package that we think could include people who listen on both platforms, and perhaps many times a month on Apple.) The study’s threshold for overtaking Apple is 28-million users — eMarketer’s quote of how many people use Apple.
Second, the survey projects that 35% of Americans will listen to podcasts at least monthly, by any means. This is a bit contrary, since The Infinite Dial (Edison Research, Triton Digital) determined in February that 41% of the 12+ American population engages in monthly listening. Well … different survey; different results.
Here is the Spotify listening projection in chart format:
And here is how eMarketer projects U.S. podcast monthly listening growth:
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