It’s no secret that stats and figures show that podcast listenership and creation has grown rapidly over the past year (partly due to the effects of the pandemic).
Apple recently announced they have over 2 million podcasts in their database which goes to show how big the podcast industry has become.
Podcast advertising is also predicted to hit $1 billion this year so it begs the question: what are the current podcast stats and figures?
Are podcast listeners growing in 2021?
Firstly, podcasting is still growing, there is no doubt about that. The sharpest growth for 2021 was in weekly listening, which is up 17% year-over-year.
Previous stats showed that majority of listeners tuned in podcasts on their way to and from work but the pandemic threatened the future of podcasting.
Critics predicted that with everyone working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and not commuting to work, podcast listenership would decrease greatly however the opposite happened.
The graphs above show us that not only is podcast listenership growing on a weekly basis, but also monthly listenership is growing. In 2013, there was only only 58% of podcast listeners but the percentage of weekly listeners in 2021 is currently at 68%.
MORE ON STATS
Podcast Advertising in 2021
Podcast stats and figures for April 2021
Apple announced 2 million podcasts mark
Podcast Sponsors – Why brand monitoring is important for your business
These numbers show that podcasting is very healthy: though not as healthy as audio particularly due to the influence of ClubHouse, but podcasting is growing steadily and it’s also getting better with more diversity (both in hosts and topics).
Podcast listener stats by country
US
- 63% of podcast listeners are white – vs 58% for US pop (Infinite Dial 20)
- Age of monthly podcast listeners versus US population (Infinite Dial 20):
- 12-34: 48% (vs 37%)
- 35-54: 32% (vs 40%)
- 55+: 20% (vs 23%)
