Produced by Discover Pods (www.discoverpods.com), the Podcast Trends Report 2017 benchmarks podcast listener growth, how podcasts stack up to other content mediums, and current trends and challenges faced by podcasters. The data was taken from a survey of over 1,000 podcast fans and includes surprising stats, such as: - 76.8% of people listen to podcasts for more than 7 hours each week. - 61.2% of respondents spend more time listening to podcasts than watching TV. - 48.8% of respondents said they purchased an item after hearing it advertised on a podcast. - 57.4% of podcasters list marketing and building an audience among their top challenges.

1. The Podcast
Trends
Report, 2018

2. Table of
Contents
2
Methodology……………………………………………………….
Listener Behavior…………………………………….…………
Podcast Landscape……………………………….………….
Advertisement Efficacy…………………………………….
Podcaster Trends……………………………………………….
3
4
14
17
20

3. Methodology
Discover Pods decided to
embark on the Podcast Trends
Report with a very clear goal in
mind: to better understand
listener behavior, further
benchmark the potential of
podcast advertising, and
prioritize the challenges facing
the podcast industry and
podcasters alike.
The report takes both
qualitative and quantitative
collection tools, but is rooted in
the self-selected survey.
We surveyed 1,156 people who
are active in various
web-based podcast
communities. Out of the 1,156
respondents, 368 identified
themselves as podcasters.
3

4. Listener Behavior
4

5. Do you listen to podcasts more
or less compared to a year ago?
5
62.6% 34.3% 3.1%
More About the same Less

6. How many podcasts are you
subscribed to?
6
Podcast subscriptions are
more diverse compared
with a year ago. The largest
gained segment is among
super-listeners subscribing
to more than 70 podcasts.

7. How many podcasts do you
listen to on a monthly basis?
7
Similar with subscriptions,
podcast fans are listening to
a higher number of podcasts
each month. The
super-listener bump,
however, isn’t as
pronounced on the monthly
level.

8. How many hours per week do
you spend listening to podcasts?
8
76.8% of podcast fans listen
to 7 or more hours of
podcasts each week. A
staggering 20.1% listen to
more than 22 hours each
week — more than 3 hours
per day.

9. “
“
76.8% of people listen to
podcasts for more than
7 hours each week.
9

10. Mobile app usage is changing
10
New entrants Google Podcasts
and Spotify have gained market
share compared to last year’s
report.
Apple’s once dominant position
is shrinking from big and small
competition. Among podcast
fans, third-party apps continue
to grow.

11. 78.5%
Where do you listen?
11
65.4% 55.2%
Commuting Doing Housework Free Time

12. Podcast consumption versus
other content types
12
61.2% of podcast fans
spend more time listening
to podcasts than watching
TV. Last year this number
was 55.7%. Only social
media edges out podcasts
in consumption time.

13. “
“
61.2% of respondents
spend more time
listening to podcasts
than watching TV.
13

14. Podcast Landscape
14

15. Where do you discover new
podcasts?
15

16. 87.54%
The biggest challenges facing
podcasts today
16
78.89% 67.12%
Podcast Discovery Lack of Awareness Low Podcast Quality

17. Which categories are the most
popular?
17

18. Advertisement Efficacy
18

19. 85.8%
Listen to podcast ads
48.8%
Have purchased an item advertised on a podcast
87.9%
Think podcast ads are effective
19

20. “
“
Last year, 40% of respondents
said they purchased an item after
hearing it advertised on a
podcast...
...this year that number grew to
48.8%.
20

21. Podcaster Trends
21

22. How long have you been
podcasting for?
22
Podcasts take a considerable
amount of time and effort.
However, with the low barrier
to entry, it’s encouraging to
see a balanced split between
veteran and new podcasters.

23. “
“
57.4% of podcasters list
marketing and building
an audience among their
top challenges.
23

24. 95%
What’s important to podcasters
24
93% 88%
Engaged Listeners Producing a Quality
Podcast
Publishing Podcasts
on a Consistent Basis

25. “
“
58% of podcasters
consider earning
revenue important
25

26. Thank You
26
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey. A special thanks to the following people and groups
for helping spread the word:
- PodNews
- Earbuds Podcast Collective
- The Bello Collective
- Podcasts Subreddit
- New York Times Facebook Group
- Podcast Movement Community
- Hurt Your Brain
- Podcasts We Listen To
- Multiple Discover Pods community members … you know who you are

27. The Podcast
Trends
Report, 2018