50+ New Podcast Statistics & Trends 2022: Are Podcasts popular in 2022?

Even though people are more likely to respond to things they can see, the podcast industry has grown a lot over the years. One reason for its popularity is that it is easy to use.

We are used to doing more than one thing at a time, so this medium lets us get information while going about our daily lives, like going to work, cooking, or working out.

Even so, it’s not always just used to get information. Some podcast listeners have found a group of people who share their interests. It’s more interesting than it sounds because podcast hosts often interact with their listeners on social media sites.

Check out some of the most interesting podcast statistics for 2022, which we’ve put together based on the latest data from the industry.

General Podcast Statistics 2022

• Around the world, 383.7 million people listen to podcasts.
• It is thought that by the end of 2022, there will be about 424 million podcast listeners around the world.
• During the pandemic, smart speaker sales went up by 22%. It is one of the most popular ways to listen to podcasts.
• Most people listen to podcasts in the United States. It is thought that more than 100 million people in the US listen to podcasts regularly.
• 160 million people in the US have heard at least one podcast.
• Most people listen to podcasts in Scandinavian countries.
• As of June 2022, there are more than 2.4 million podcasts with a total of more than 66 million episodes.
• One-third of the people in the United States regularly listen to podcasts.
• 78% of the people in the US know what a podcast is. 28% of them listen to podcasts once a week.
• 91% of the people in Australia are aware of what a podcast is.

How popular are podcasts?

Since it started in the early 2000s, podcasting has grown a lot and in a steady way.

• 62% of people aged 12 and up will have listened to a podcast by 2022, and about 79% will know what a podcast is.
• During Covid, podcasting grew at a rate that had never been seen before, and podcast listeners became more diverse.
• Over a third of Americans (104 million) listen to podcasts every week.
• 73% of people 12 and older in the U.S. have listened to audio online in the last month.
• 88% of people in the U.S. have a smartphone.
• 38% of U.S. adults ages 12 and up listen to podcasts once a month.
• 43% of people aged 35–54 listen to podcasts once a month (the most popular age group for podcast consumption).
• 26% of Americans, or 80 million, listen to podcasts every week.
• In 2022, 35% of adults in the U.S. will have a smart speaker.
• More people in the U.S. listen to podcasts each week than have Netflix accounts.

Podcast Statistics by Demographics

United States

• Those between the ages of 35 and 44 make up the largest demographic, with 50% of monthly listeners, followed by 22% of those 55 and up.
• In 2021, there was a historic high in the percentage of female listeners.
• Podcasts are listened to by 43% of American men and 39% of American women.
• Around 26% of Americans aged 55 and up regularly tune in to podcasts.

In the past, podcast listeners did not look like the US population as a whole. In 2011, white people made up 68% of podcast listeners, but this is starting to change.

Here’s how it breaks down by race:

• 57% White
• 13% of black people
• 16% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 10% Others
• 47.9% of podcast listeners are in the United States, 6.3% are in the United Kingdom, and 5.0% are in Canada.

• Sweden, Ireland, and Brazil were the top three podcast-consuming countries as of 2021.
• The two regions with the most listeners are North America and the Asia Pacific.
• In South Korea, 58% of adults listen to podcasts on a monthly basis.
• The popularity of podcasts is increasing yearly in most nations.
• In the UK, 18% of adults will be weekly podcast listeners by 2020.
• Every month, 9 million Canadians over the age of 18 listen to podcasts.
• In the previous year, almost 38% of adult Canadians listened to podcasts.
• 28% of Canadian listeners have an annual income of $100,000 or more.
• The age range of Canadian podcast listeners is primarily 18 to 34.
• A little more than half of Italians between the ages of 18 and 34 have recently listened to a podcast.
• In Australia, interest in podcasts increased by 4% in 2020.

Podcast and Ads Statistics

• In 2022, 82% of marketers plan to keep spending the same amount on podcasts and other audio content or spend more. (Statista)
• In 2022, 39% of IT companies plan to use podcasts to promote their products. (HubSpot)
• The average cost of a podcast ad spot is between $10 and $50, with extra fees for shows that get a lot of attention. (HubSpot)
• 18% of companies in the U.S. want to use podcasts and other audio content in their marketing plans. (HubSpot)
• 54% of people who listen to podcasts say they are more likely to think about brands they hear about on podcasts. (Research by Edison)
• 38% of marketers who work for retail businesses say that podcast advertising has the best return on investment (ROI). 

Spotify Podcast statistics

• Society and culture is the most popular type of podcast on Spotify: When it comes to podcasts, Spotify users are most interested in the Society & Culture genre. This genre has everything from news to LGBTQ+ voices to food culture.

• Spotify has more than 4 million different podcast titles: Spotify says that there are more than 4 million podcasts on the platform, which makes it a popular choice for podcast creators. Many podcasters have decided to only post to Spotify and stop using any other platforms.

• Every month, 32.5 million people listen to podcasts on Spotify: When we look at the numbers for 2022, we can say that Spotify will have 32.5 million podcast listeners every month. On the other hand, it is expected that only 28.5 million people will listen to Apple Podcasts every month. So, for the time being, it looks like Spotify is the winner.

• The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify was the most popular podcast worldwide in 2021.

Apple Podcast Statistics

• Apple hosts over 98% of all the podcasts available: Earlier versions of macOS and iOS continue to rely on iTunes. Apple Podcasts is the name for the newer ones. The mechanism of distribution remains the same, but the specifics are determined by the user’s hardware and operating system.
• As of March 2021, there were 2,446,002 valid podcasts on Apple.

Here are the most popular Podcast streaming platforms:

Here is the overview of top Podcast streaming apps.

Platform	Share in Market
Apple Podcasts	37.4
Spotify	26.8
Web Browser	2.9
Google Podcasts	2.4
Castbox	2.0
Podcast Addict	1.5
Overcast	1.2
Apple iTunes	1.1
Pocket Casts	0.7
Amazon Music	0.7

Podcast Duration Statistics

Here is what we found during our research on durations:

The Future of podcasts

• Podcasting is expected to grow a lot in 2022 as the number of people who want to listen to audio on demand grows.
• Estimates show that by 2024, the number of listeners in the U.S. could go from 75.9 million to 100 million.
• By 2023, it is expected that more than 160 million people will listen to podcasts.
• The number of people who listen to podcasts is expected to rise steadily in 2022 as podcasts become more popular and mainstream.
• The number of older Americans who listen to podcasts once a month is growing the most.

FAQs

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Conclusion

This is our forecast for podcast statistics in August 2022. The podcast industry has recently exploded. The industry took off, especially after the pandemic. This is the most recent set of figures. This section will be updated as new studies become available.

If you have any other interesting statistics that we missed, please leave them in the comments; we’d love to include them on the blog.

Sources & References:

• Statista
• Podcast Industry Insights
• The Podcast Exchange
• Edison Research
• The Verge
• What’s New In Publishing
• Insider intelligence
• The Podcast Host
• BuzzSprout
• Spotify
• Wikipedia