The number of Americans listening to podcasts continues to climb, with the availability of shows on YouTube seemingly helping the industry expand its audience. Triton Digital’s third annual U.S. Podcast Report says 44.2% of Americans listen to podcasts monthly, an increase of 9.6% vs. a year ago. But the jump is a more sizable 23.1% vs. 2021, when Triton released its first year-end report.
The data — based on a survey of 8,000 Americans aged 18 and older conducted in the fourth quarter — reveals that while young adults remain the most tuned into podcasts, other demos have caught on. Triton says a majority 52% of adults ages 35 to 54 listen to podcasts at least monthly, vs. 55% for 18- to 34-year-olds. And the data shows three in ten adults 55 and older also listen to podcasts. The survey finds the number of monthly podcast listeners 55 and older jumped by a third in the past year.
Triton’s report finds men remain more likely to listen to podcasts, as men are 13-times more likely to be podcast listeners. But the gap is closing. Podcast listening among adult women rose 6.3% in the past year, and it is up 26.3% during the past three years.
The data also shows a broadening ethnic reach for the medium. A majority 53% of Hispanics and 46% of Black adults listen on a monthly basis. And both groups over-index for podcast listening vs. the overall U.S. population. Triton says monthly podcast listening among Blacks rose 8.9% during the past year, while listening among Hispanic adults increased 3.4%.
Among the publishers measured by Triton Digital, 92% of downloads went to mobile devices last year. And Triton says Apple Podcasts and Spotify continue to hold dominant shares, accounting for two-thirds of downloads in 2024. But similar to other research, Triton reports a growing role for YouTube. A third of the podcast listeners it surveyed said YouTube was their most-used podcast app, up two points from a year earlier. But there are variations among the three. Triton says Spotify attracts the youngest audience among listening platforms, YouTube listeners are predominantly male, and Apple Podcasts listeners are the most affluent.
Yet the role of YouTube funneling in new listeners to podcasting is also evident in the data. It shows a larger proportion of YouTube consumers are newcomers, while Apple Podcasts consumers tend to have more established listening habits.
Triton says nearly half (45%) of YouTube users have started listening to podcasts in the past year vs. to 31% of Apple Podcast users. At the same time, four in ten Apple Podcast users have been listening to podcasts for four or more years.
“Podcasts are attracting new listeners, and as these audiences become more familiar with the medium, they are spending more time listening,” the report says.
In terms of content, the so-called podcast election helped give the News genre a boost among publishers measured by Triton Digital. It says the News genre grew from a 22% share of downloads in 2023 to 25% in 2024, due in part to the U.S. election. The result is one in four downloads last year was a News podcast. True Crime (19%), Comedy (13%) and Society & Culture (9%) followed among Triton-measured shows.
“2024 marked another year of remarkable growth for the podcast industry, with listenership broadening across demographics and becoming more mainstream than ever,” says Daryl Battaglia, Senior VP Measurement Products & Strategy at Triton Digital. “As new audiences dive into podcasts and spend more time listening, fueling deeper engagement, genres like True Crime, Kids & Family, and History drive the highest back catalog consumption, creating untapped opportunities for programmatic advertising.”
Triton reports that the iHeart Audience Network was the biggest in 2024 among those it tracks, averaging 67 million downloads per week. The SiriusXM Podcast Network was second, with 40.4 million on average each week, followed by NPR with 25.4 million.
The report also says among the Triton-measured publishers NPR News Now remained the top podcast in 2024. Audiochuck’s Crime Junkie had the most downloaded episode with the first episode of its “Serial Killer: The Alphabet Murders” story, while the Crime Junkie episode “Murdered: JonBenét Ramsey” was the most popular, based on downloads in the first 30 days. And Cumulus Podcast Network’s Bongino Report Early Edition with Evita had the biggest debut in 2024.
Download Triton’s annual U.S. Podcast Report HERE.
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