Since we began tracking the entire world of audio with our Share of Ear® survey in 2014, we have chronicled the rise of all forms of digital audio, with podcasting as one of the clear gainers over these years.
Our respondents don’t just tell us what they listen to, but also where they listen (among many other things). So, this week we take a look at podcasting’s share of all listening by location from our latest data (Q2 2023), and something quite interesting emerges:
The graphic below shows podcasting’s Share of All Audio Listening by location. You can see that of all the audio time spent at work by those age 13+, 14% is with podcasts, of all the audio time spent at home, 12% is with podcasts, and of all the audio time spent at other places (like the gym, the grocery store, etc.) 11% is with podcasts.
Listening to podcasting is more than 10% of all listening time in every location except for in-car, which is 5%.
What is potentially surprising here is that there is lots of evidence that speech-based AM/FM Radio does much better in the car than in other locations. Sports-talk radio, in particular, has often had the highest portion of listening in cars as compared to any other radio format.
It could certainly be the case that the speech-content crowd finds what it wants from AM/FM or SiriusXM while driving, and thus isn’t motivated to listen to a podcast. It could also be something about driving itself – most drives are for short distances, for instance – that keeps people from plugging their phones into the car.
The car seems to be an ideal environment for podcasting listening. As such, this location seems one of podcasting’s biggest pathways to growth.
The study includes parent feedback as well as a parent-administered survey of children podcast listeners and is the first-ever comprehensive measurement of the listening habits and preferences of U.S. podcast listeners age 6-12. The webinar will also feature video excerpts from in-home interviews with parents together with their children to highlight what families like about podcasts.
Edison Research Vice President Megan Lazovick along with Research Co-Leads of Kids Listen Lindsay Patterson and Sanden Totten, will present the findings. A copy of the presentation will be available following the webinar.
