Triton Digital has released its comprehensive 2023 US Podcast Report, revealing evolving trends, listener demographics, and platform preferences. Over the past two years, the podcast industry has witnessed remarkable growth, with a 12% increase in the number of monthly podcast listeners.
This surge has brought the listener base to encompass 40.3% of the U.S. population. Notably, this growth spans across various segments of the population, with a significant uptick in older Americans and females turning to podcasts.
The report underscores the dominance of mobile devices in podcast consumption, accounting for 94.1% of all listening activity. Apple Podcasts and Spotify have maintained their positions as the leading sources for podcast downloads. However, YouTube is rapidly emerging as a popular platform, with its user base showing the fastest growth.
In terms of content preferences, News, True Crime, and Comedy emerged as the most downloaded podcast genres in 2023. The report also highlights the importance of ‘long tail’ podcasts – those with fewer than 50,000 U.S. downloads per month – which make up 76% of all podcasts yet hold a significant influence in the podcasting world.
Highlighting the most popular episodes of the year, the report identifies Crime Junkie episodes as leading in downloads. Among the new podcast debuts, The Deck Investigates by audiochuck stood out for its impressive download numbers.
Triton Digital’s report shows the SiriusXM Podcast Network, NPR, and Wondery are the medium’s leading sales networks.
The listener profile for podcasts is skewing younger, more affluent, and more educated. The platforms themselves also cater to different listener profiles. Spotify attracts a younger audience, while Apple Podcasts appeals to a higher-income group, and YouTube is favored by newer podcast listeners.
The full results from Triton Digital’s study can be found on its website.
