According to Acast, the podcasting boom is still well underway, with a survey of 1,335 adults showing that 23% had listened to at least one in the last month.
The company has launched a quarterly Audio Intelligence report to rack audio consumption habits in the UK, US and Australian markets.
“This research is crucial to understanding where the industry is headed,” said Susie Warhurst, UK Director of Content. “The more we know about how people behave and what they think, the better we can make our offering. Acast is a data-driven organisation and this research with Ipsos will help make the industry better.”
The data shows that podcast listeners in the UK tend to be millennials, with two thirds falling into the 16-34 age bracket. Of this group, 27% listen once a week, and 29% listen to 2 – 4 a week. A hardcore 15% have fallen in deep, listening to a podcast five times or more a week. Weekday afternoons and evenings are the prime listening time, with the largest spike occurring between 19:00pm and 22:00pm.
Interestingly, 21% of respondents said they had started listening in the last six months. The average podcast fans spend 3.6 hours listening each week.
Unreachables
Advertisers are finding a lot of success in podcasting. Acast thinks that the medium’s ability to put brands into contact with the ‘unreachables’. This group is defined as:
“Choosy, on-demand media connoisseurs who know when they are being sold to ̶ and are more likely to seek ways to avoid it.”
As such, podcast listeners are more likely to use ad blockers (31%), but they are also likely to pay for premium services (84%). This group is also willing to act on the ads they hear, with 76% saying that they have followed up on an ad or sponsored message they heard on a podcast. 37% have looked for more information on a product, 24% have visited the brands website and 18% have shared that information online.
Because the majority of listeners choose to do so in order to relax, adverts need to fit the tone of the podcast and not jar the listener out of their relaxed, meditative state. Good adverts are likely to have a positive response, but the inverse is also likely to be true.
