Podcasting continues to increase in popularity and 2020 – the pandemic year - put that increase into warp drive. Other factors contributing to the rise of podcasting are an upsurge of podcast programming and a rise in smart speaker adoption. 

Highlights from a recent study from Edison Research and Triton Digital, based on a survey of Americans age 12 and older, include

• The number of Americans who are familiar with podcasting rose by 10 million since last year to 222 million – an increase of 4.72%.
• 57% of Americans have listened to a podcast, which means that almost three-fourths of people who have heard of podcasting have also listened to one.
• The number of people who have listened to a podcast has grown by 29.5% since 2018.
• 116 million people – 41% - listen to podcasts on a monthly basis.
• The percentage of people who listen to podcasts monthly has grown 61.5% since 2018.
• On a weekly basis, more people listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts – 80 million weekly podcast listeners vs. 69 million Netflix account owners.
• Those who listen to podcasts on a weekly basis listen to an average of 8 podcasts/week.
• Smart speaker ownership increased by 22% between 2020 and 2021, which allows for more in-home listening to podcasts.