Edison: Most Podcast Listening Happens at Home
Edison Research reveals that, according to data from its ongoing Share of Ear study, the majority of podcast listening does not take place in the car. Edison says, “At-home listening accounts for an impressive 67% of total daily podcast consumption time according to the most recent Share of Ear. Besides the reality that
people spend by far the most amount of their time at home, the at-home environment offers a variety of listening devices including smart speakers, internet-connected TVs, and computers, in addition to mobile phones… And we know from our qualitative research that podcast listeners can listen while they multitask at home.” After listening at home, listening at work contributes 16% to the overall daily listening time to podcasts, while in-car listening captures 11% of daily listening time. Edison adds, “We can theorize that because people often take short drives during the day including quick trips to the store, or school, or on errands, that those short trips might not be conducive to becoming fully engaged with a podcast.” Finally, 6% of listening happens in various other locations, such as gyms, grocery stores, or while walking.
says that key points for advertisers to know about podcast listeners include: 1) More people than ever are listening to podcasts: 67% of the 12+ population has ever listened to a podcast; 47% of the 12+ population are monthly podcast listeners and 34% are weekly listeners; 2) Listeners are spending more time than ever with podcasts: In 2014, out of the daily time spent listening to all audio by those age 13+, 2% was spent with podcasts. In 2024, that number more than quadrupled and podcasts now account for 11% of daily time with audio. Twenty-three percent of weekly podcast listeners spend 10 hours or more listening to the medium each week; and 3) Podcasts reach all generations: 29% of kids age 6-12, 59% of those age 12-34, 55% of those age 35-54, and 27% of those age 55+ are monthly podcast listeners. 