Over one third of Americans listen to podcasts regularly with 37% of Americans age 12 and over (104 million) listening monthly, up from 32% in 2019 according to the Infinite Dial 2020. The Infinite Dial is produced by Edison Research and is America’s longest-running survey of digital media consumer behaviour in the US, published annually since 1998. It provides survey data on a number of important media channels, including streaming audio, podcasting, and social media from a representative sample of the US population aged 12 and over.
Key findings from the Infinite Dial 2020 report
- More than one-third of Americans (104 Million) are consuming podcasts regularly, up significantly from 2019.
- 75% of Americans (approximately 212 million people) are now familiar with podcasting, up from 70% in 2019, and 37% (104 million) listen monthly, up from 32% in 2019. This continues the growth trend since 2009.
- 62% of those in the US use voice assistants, and 45% of those in the US have listened to audio in a car through a cell phone.
- 18% of Americans age 18+ own a car with an in-dash information and entertainment system.
- In 2020, smart speaker households owned an average of 2.2 of the devices, up from an average of 1.7 just two years ago.
- 38% of men and 36% of women in the US are monthly podcast listeners, which is more balanced than the 36% of men and 29% of women who were monthly listeners in the 2019 study.
- 32% of those in the US age 12-34 use Facebook most often, down from 58% five years ago. 27% of those in the US age 12-34 use Instagram most often, up from 15% five years ago.
Tom Webster, SVP of Edison Research, said “Podcasts now reach over 100 million Americans every month, and are attracting an increasingly diverse audience. Also, with 62% of Americans now saying they have used some kind of voice assistance technology, audio is becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives.”
The report also contains details of audio listening showing marked differences in consumption between younger and older listeners. For example, Spotify is more popular amongst younger listeners whereas Pandora is preferred by older consumers.
The full report (78pp) is available free to download here.
