This post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email. Subscribe here.
Our last insight of 2025, from Share of Ear®, showcased how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically shifted audio listening time into the home from 2020 – 2022. The majority of audio listening remains at-home, but we now see a shift back towards pre-COVID levels. Our first insight of 2026, from Edison Podcast Metrics, illustrates where U.S. weekly podcast consumers most frequently consume podcasts and how this specific sector of the audio world has changed over time.
Just as we saw last week, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed where weekly podcast consumers listen most often to podcasts. In 2019, 48% of weekly podcast listeners said they listened to podcasts most often at home. The number jumped significantly to 58% in 2020. In the case of podcasts, at-home has continued to rise over time – our current estimate is that 63%. Parallel trends around podcast consumption, especially on TVs, are likely keeping these numbers from reverting to the pre-COVID rates.
Edison Podcast Metrics is the only podcast measurement service that captures consumption across all networks, shows, and platforms in the U.S. Subscribers to this product have access to all of our research, rankings, and show profiles through online dashboards—including comprehensive rankings for 500+ podcasts with detailed insights across thousands of shows. Contact our team today to learn more about a subscription to Edison Podcast Metrics.
