New research of the US market has shown that podcasting is growing in leaps & bounds. The 2019 Infinite Dial Study by Edison Research & Triton Digital has established that among the US population ages 12 & above, the total number of people who have ever listened to a podcast passed 50% for the 1st time.
“This is a watershed moment for podcasting–a true milestone. With over half of Americans 12+ saying that they have ever listened to a podcast, the medium has firmly crossed into the mainstream,” noted Tom Webster, Senior Vice President at Edison Research.
One-third of the population reported having listened to a podcast in the last month, representing 90 million monthly listeners. The spoken-word audio sector also saw increases with audiobooks, as the portion of the US population that had ever listened to an audiobook surpassed one-half for the 1st time.
Regarding social media, the study found that the number of current users of Facebook continued to fall. The study showed an estimated 15 million fewer users of Facebook than in the 2017 report. The declines were heavily concentrated among younger people. A total of 1,500 persons were interviewed to explore Americans’ use of digital platforms & new media.
Other findings include:
–More than half the US population now reports having used YouTube specifically for music in last week. This number is now 70% among 12-34-year-olds.
–The percentage of Americans who listen to Online audio (defined as listening to AM/FM radio stations Online and/or listening to streamed audio Content available only on the Internet) has doubled since 2012, growing from one-third of the population to two-thirds.
–Time spent listening to Online audio has reached a record high this year, with weekly online audio listeners reporting an average of nearly 17 hours of listening in the last week.
The 2019 Infinite Dial is the latest report in a series dating back to 1998 that covers consumer usage of media and technology.
Credit: YouTube
