The companionship radio has long built its brand on is showing up in podcast research, too. Acast’s Podcast Pulse 2026 finds listeners value audio as a presence during chores, drives, and workouts, and that radio ads hold near-parity with podcast ads among podcast fans.
Acast’s Podcast Pulse 2026, conducted with Differentology in August, surveyed 4,300 monthly podcast listeners ages 16 to 64 across 13 markets. A separate Attest survey polled 136 marketers in the US, UK, and Australia.
Among those podcast listeners, 60% say they consume radio ads at least half of the time, in line with audio podcasts (62%) and ahead of streaming music services (58%). Respondents also reported needing an average of 7.3 radio ad exposures before seriously considering a product or brand, matching cable TV and within a tenth of a point of audio and video podcasts (7.2). Radio came in ahead of Instagram (7.4), YouTube, X, and streaming music (7.5 each), and Facebook and TikTok (7.6 each).
A majority (57%) say they are fully or mostly attentive while listening to radio, compared with 73% for audio podcasts and 67% for streaming music.
Audio podcast use peaks in the morning (40%), and household chores (41%), exercising (37%), and driving (37%) top the situations where fans are most likely to choose audio. Among people who listen while doing something else, 60% say podcasts feel like a companion during daily routines, 58% say they make solo moments feel less solitary, and 52% say a favorite host is often a highlight of their day.
Some 88% of respondents now consume both audio and video podcasts, up from 78% last year, and 63% have started an episode in one format and finished it in another. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of podcast sessions are deliberately chosen, and trust in podcasters’ brand and product recommendations climbed to 42% from 33% in 2025.
Hearing a brand again on a podcast makes 50% of listeners more likely to remember it, compared with 17% who say it makes them less likely.
In the US, live podcast event attendance rose from 20% of listeners in 2024 to 36% this year. Attendees spend an average of $268 per event across tickets, travel, food and drink, merchandise, and other purchases.
