Podcasts are becoming a bigger part of our listening, covering a range of topics available across different platforms and formats.
We’ve highlighted some stats from our latest Media Nations research, which provided some interesting findings relating to this increasingly popular medium.
Are you a podcast listener? See how your habits match up to our research findings.
Podcast popularity continues to grow
The past few years have seen small but steady growth in the reach of podcasts, with just over 20% of UK adults now listening to at least one podcast a week – that’s 11.7 million people. After a dip in the past couple of years, 15-24-year-olds are getting back into podcasts, while 35-44s are turning away.
Podcasts are still most popular among adults aged 25-34, with weekly reach increasing to almost a third of this age group in the last year. People over the age of 54 remain less likely to listen to podcasts, but in contrast to the fluctuation in younger age groups, reach has been steadily increasing among this age group in the past five years. As of early 2024, more than one in ten people aged 65+ listened to podcasts each week.
Most listeners prefer a small number of podcasts
Among podcast listeners, almost three quarters say they listen to between one and five podcasts each week, while nearly a quarter (24%) say they listen to six or more. One in ten regular podcast listeners said they subscribed to 11 or more podcasts, while slightly more said they didn’t subscribe to any.
News and current affairs prove popular
Looking at what kinds of podcasts people are listening to, the most popular genres are entertainment, news and current affairs, comedy, and discussion and talk shows. Of those people who listen to podcasts at least once a month, a fifth say they listen to news and current affairs podcasts daily – the highest daily percentage of any genre.
There are some notable differences by age group, with over-54s more likely to listen to news and current affairs podcasts each week.
Convenience and choice win out over radio
Convenience is key when it comes to podcast listening: 83% of regular podcast listeners said they like the convenience of being able to listen to podcasts whenever it suits them.
Just over a third agreed that they would be happy to pay to subscribe to their favourite podcast, while slightly more - 38% - said they wouldn’t. Just over a third of listeners said they found advertising and sponsorship on podcasts less intrusive than on other media, while just under a fifth disagreed. Another interesting finding was that just over half of listeners said they were not worried about content in podcasts that might be offensive or upsetting to themselves or others.