Starting in 2017, the Podcast Trends Report aims to better understand podcast listener behavior, benchmarking podcast trends, and taking stock of podcast advertising. The 2020 version will be the fourth annual report and with each consecutive edition, we can better understand which podcast trends are gaining steam versus falling. These podcast stats are crucial for better understanding the ever-changing podcast landscape.

In the 2019 Podcast Trends Report, we found:

  • 82.4% of people listen to podcasts for more than 7 hours each week.
  • 33.2% of respondents have listened to a podcast on a smart speaker.
  • 59% of respondents spend more time listening to podcasts than on social media.
  • 55.6% of respondents said they purchased an item after hearing it advertised on a podcast.
  • 61.3% of podcasters list marketing and building an audience among their top challenges.

The full 2019 report PDF can be found here.

While many are familiar with Edison Research’s reports, The Infinite Dial and The Podcast Consumer, The Podcast Trends Report strives to provide deeper insight into both podcast fans and podcasters alike. Edison Research’s reports are the standard benchmark for understanding podcast growth among the total population, The Podcast Trends Report instead only looks at those who actively listen to podcasts.