Podcast Thoughts

Podcast Takeaways from The Infinite Dial 2018 Report

March 9, 2018 9:15 am

If you’re unfamiliar with The Infinite Dial Report, it’s typically one of the most-cited reports on the state of audio (especially podcasts) done by Edison Research and Triton Digital. The 2018 report marks the 20th anniversary of conducting the study — basically their research is the benchmark for podcast adoption. Later this year, they’ll release the Podcast Consumer Report which will be more tailored for podcasters and the community (we wrote our analysis of the 2017 report here).

But the research is around audio consumption habits as a whole, which specific parts should intrigue those interested in podcasts? Here’s my take on the key stats.

Podcast Growth

One of the stats The Infinite Dial tracks year over year is the familiarity with the term “podcast”. Though it doesn’t necessarily mean the respondents know what a podcast is or have even listened to one, it’s a good indicator podcasts are entering the mainstream audience. If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re in the minority of podcast fans who reside in an echo chamber with other podcast fans. The fact that familiarity continues to rise at a pretty decent clip is good news that podcasts are entering everyday conversations, traditional media, and other areas.

Podcast listening continues to grow as well. If you’re new to The Infinite Dial and very much live in the echo chamber I described above, 44% might seem low to you. However, a 4% rise matches the highest historical leap from 2017 — this bodes extremely well for the podcast industry

It was interesting to note The Infinite Dial has audiobook listening hovering around 44% the last four years. If podcast listening continues to grow at the 3-4% rate we’ve seen, the 2019 report will be easy to sensationalize as podcasting would have now eclipsed audiobooks.

Listener Behavior

Should come as no surprise monthly listening is up to to 26% (24% in 2017). What was interesting for me is the age breakdowns of monthly listeners.

While the highest is in the 25-54 age range, I think the segmentation is the deceiving factor here. I’m not sure how much in common a 25 year old has in common with a 54 year old in 2018. You can see the sheer drop-off in 55+ age bracket. Anecdotally, I think podcasts sweet spot is currently with older college students through to young professionals. My hunch is a range for 20-35 year olds would be substantially higher than the rest.

Weekly podcast listening is up as well, from 15% to 17%. You’re starting to realize how much of a minority you are, huh? The average weekly podcast listener listens to 7 podcasts each week. One per day, that makes sense. 48% listen to 3 or fewer podcasts.

What Will Advertisers Care About?

The Infinite Dial research will make podcasters very happy since all their data supports podcast listeners are a very attentive group to advertise to. I suspect The Podcast Consumer report will have even more nuggets, but even the early results are promising.

80% of listeners listen to either most of the podcast or the entire podcast. Prior to Apple disclosing analytics, this was still the mystery advertisers were worried about with podcasts. Are listeners listening? Do they listen all the way through? Short answer: yes.

Probably making advertisers even happier, only 19% of people say they listen faster than normal speed.

The home still dominates where podcasts are listened, however, in the vehicle is quickly growing. Undoubtedly, this is a because the connectivity of cars continues to increase. Even if you don’t have Apple CarPlay in your car, chances are you have an aux or bluetooth hookup you can plug your phone into to stream music and/or podcasts. Admittedly, there are still some hurdles when it comes to podcasts in your car. Apple Podcasts specifically, require a lot of clicks to jump around between episodes — which is unsafe and in a lot of states, illegal. I wrote this as one of the advantages of Overcast.

Devices Declining

What was interesting from my point of view is the binary nature of device listening. As the mobility of podcasts rise (combined with smart speaker saturation), other devices market share has to shrink. There’s not a more glaring example than radios.

In just 10 years, radio ownership has plummeted. This doesn’t mean radio programming has followed suit, but listeners are now getting those programs from Amazon Echo, Google Home, Sonos, or most likely, through their phone.

Computer listening is also following this trend. Put simply: podcasts are listened to on the go. The old school way of streaming your podcasts from the World Wide Web is shrinking. I can’t remember the last time I listened through my computer.