Recent surveys have revealed the battle for top podcast channel appears to be between Apple and Spotify.
Westwood One’s Podcast Download – Fall 2020 Report shows that 22% of respondents cited Apple Podcasts as the platform they used to listen to podcasts, while 20% cited Spotify.
However, a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Digital News Report 2020 conducted by YouGov on June 15, 2020, found that 25% cited Spotify as the source of their podcasts while 20% cited Apple Podcasts.
What is striking about the Westwood One survey is the presence of YouTube outperforming Google’s own Google Podcasts as a listening platform.
That doesn’t necessarily surprise me. Many podcasters upload their audio files to YouTube in order to take advantage of the search discovery power of the channel. And video podcasters such as my own Beyond Social Media Show post first to YouTube and repurpose the audio for distribution via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and the rest.
Nevertheless, this is the first podcast listening survey in which I’ve ever seen YouTube cited.
eMarketer principal analyst Jeremy Goldman, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle, and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss Spotify’s strategic positioning as a complete podcasting ecosystem. They then talk about how much time Americans spend on their phones during their lifetime, why Alexa’s asking follow-up questions, and what we can expect from the new “Apple One” bundle.
More Podcast Statistics
Digital Audio Listeners, 2016-2023
How the mighty fall. Once, the uncontested 800-lbs gorilla of audio streaming platforms, Pandora is falling far behind the new hotness, Spotify.
Podcast Listeners’ Response To Podcast Ads
Data from Nielsen explores how marketers in the auto industry, which has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic’s closure of plants and supply chains, could leverage an engaged audience of podcast listeners.
Audio Streaming Hours By Device
It’s not just OTT and pay-TV viewing that have seen an increase in use since the beginning of the coronavirus. Audio streaming has also been on the rise as people spend more time in their homes.
For-Fee Podcast Listeners
Of the 50% of US adults who listen to podcasts, around 1 in 6 (17%) have paid to listen to one, while a majority are open to a mix of free and paid podcast models.
US Podcast Listeners, 2018-2022
The US podcast audience grew tremendously in 2019, as significant investments from major audio streaming services made podcast content more accessible. eMarketer now estimates that there were 92 million monthly US podcast listeners in 2019, up more than 15 million from its previous estimate of 76.4 million. The forecast was finalized prior to the coronavirus…
Podcast Listeners: Market Size – 2019-2023
Many US podcast listeners tune in frequently, and three in 10 daily listeners have bought products based on podcast ads, according to research from CivicScience.
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