Podcasts have become a growing trend in the U.S., and it’s not slowing down.
Looking for a way to reach an engaged audience with long-form content? You’ve surely heard of podcasts.
The term ‘podcast’ is a combination of the words ‘pod’, derived from Apple’s portable media player, the iPod, and ‘broadcast’.
This feature, which is presented as an episodic series of digital audio or video files that can be downloaded manually or through a subscription, has become a growing trend in the U.S., and it’s not slowing down.
In 2006, only 22% of the adult population in the U.S. was aware of the term podcast, but this figure rose to 60% by 2017
Just inside the U.S., a Nielsen insight found that 44% of the total population has listened to a podcast, while 64% are familiar with the term, up from 60% in 2017.
Other findings showed that 49% of podcast listening is done at home, down from 51% in 2017; while 22% listen while driving (in a vehicle), same as 2017.
80% of podcast listeners hear all or most of each podcast episode, grasping an average of 7 shows per week, showing that consumers of the trend are loyal, affluent and educated.
The U.S. podcasting industry had a record year in 2017, reaching $314 million in revenue. As of now, according to FastCompany, there are currently more than 525,000 podcasts and over 18.5 million episodes in more than 100 languages for people to choose from.
A platform to other platforms
Amazon and Netflix are also very happy with the steady rise of podcasts.
This is because people are not just preferring this format, it is also linking their users to other platforms and making them more participative to a productive-digital-on-demand future where live video is important.
The investigation by Nielsen determined that podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel, as 94% of them have said to be very active on at least one, while 81% of non-listeners are active of social platforms.
On the other hand, podcast listeners are more likely to subscribe to Netflix or Amazon Prime, this because they are less likely and tolerant to be exposed to TV advertising.
We could be seeing TV’s next big step as it battles with internet consumption, and podcasting as a steady rising market that promises to surprise more than one.
