Podcasting Continues to Boom! The Infinite Dial 2019 Report on Americans’ Use of Digital Platforms and New Media Now Available

Topics covered in the report include:

• Social Media
• Smart Speakers
• Audibooks
• In-Car Media
• YouTube Music
• Podcasting

From Edison Research and Triton Digital:

Podcasting shows explosive year-over-year growth as gains in spoken-word audio mark the 2019 Infinite Dial Study by Edison Research and Triton Digital. Among the U.S. population ages 12 and older, the total number of people who have ever listened to a podcast passes 50% for the first 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 U.S. population that has ever listened to an audiobook surpasses one-half for the first time.

[Clip]

Other findings include:

–More than half the U.S. 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.

Methodology

A total of 1,500 persons were interviewed to explore Americans’ use of digital platforms and new media. From January 3rd through February 4th, 2019, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older who were selected via Random Digit Dial (RDD) sampling through both landline phones and mobile phones. The survey was offered in both Spanish and English. Data was weighted to national 12+ U.S. population estimates.

Filed under: Data Files, Interviews, News, Podcasts, Reports, Video Recordings