\n- 79% of Americans — 226 million people — are familiar with podcasting.<\/li>\n
- 38% of the U.S. population listened to a podcast in the past month.<\/li>\n
- 53% of monthly listeners are male, 46% are female, 1% are nonbinary\/other.<\/li>\n
- Almost half — 47% — of monthly listeners are between the ages of 12 and 34.<\/li>\n
- One-third — 33% — of monthly listeners are between the ages of 35 and 54.<\/li>\n
- One-fifth — 20% — are 55 and older.<\/li>\n
- 68% use Facebook, 64% use Instagram, 45% use TikTok; of those, Facebook is used most often by monthly listeners.<\/li>\n
- Most monthly listeners are white at 68%, followed by African-American, 14%; Hispanic, 10%; Asian, 3%; other, 5%.<\/li>\n
- Most — 21% — listened to four or five podcasts in the past week.<\/li>\n
- At 59%, most listen to podcasts at home, with only 20% listening in their cars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And here are global podcast facts from other sources:<\/p>\n
\n- Globally, listenership reached a new high in 2020 with 485 million listeners worldwide. (Statista<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Norway leads with the highest percentage of frequent listeners, followed by the U.S. and UK. (Statista<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- 27% of Canadian listeners tune in to three episodes a week. (Statista<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Podcast listenership is growing the most in Chile at 85% followed by Argentina, 55.28%; Peru, 49.1%; Mexico, 47.84%. (MusicOomph<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- In the UK, 12% of the population listens to podcasts weekly. (MusicOomph<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Most popular podcast categories<\/h2>\n
What are the most popular podcast categories? Edison Research<\/a>\u00a0says these are the top 10 during\u00a0the second quarter of 2022:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Comedy<\/li>\n
- News<\/li>\n
- Society and Culture<\/li>\n
- True Crime<\/li>\n
- Sports<\/li>\n
- Business<\/li>\n
- Arts<\/li>\n
- TV and Film<\/li>\n
- Education<\/li>\n
- Religion and Spirituality<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Why should you care?<\/h2>\n
More and more people are listening to podcasts. According to Acumen Research and Consulting<\/a>, the podcast market is expected to grow 31% yearly between 2022 and 2030.<\/p>\nInsider Intelligence<\/a> reports that by the end of 2025, more than 144 million people in the U.S. will be listening to podcasts. And, this year, adult listeners will increase the time they spend listening to podcasts daily by 16% to just over 23 minutes.<\/p>\nThat means that it’s increasingly likely that being interviewed on podcasts or hosting one yourself can help you build that essential author platform<\/a> that ensures there’s an audience waiting to buy your book.<\/p>\n[novashare_tweet tweet=”It’s increasingly likely that being interviewed on podcasts or hosting one yourself can help you build that essential author platform that ensures there’s an audience waiting to buy your book.” hide_hashtags=”true”]<\/p>\n
There are other options, too. Could you turn your book into a podcast the way Kate Hanley<\/a> did with her nonfiction book, How to Be a Better Person?<\/em><\/p>\nIf your book’s content lends itself to a podcast format, consider pitching a podcast series<\/a> to one of the many organizations creating them, as well.<\/p>\nUse podcast facts as a guide<\/h2>\n
As you think about what role podcasts might play in your book marketing, keep in mind that statistics never tell the whole story.<\/p>\n
For example, while those 55 and older make up the smallest percentage of podcast listeners, there are many retirement wealth and lifestyle podcasts<\/a>. That tells me that there are podcasts specifically for people in that age range.<\/p>\nWhether or where podcasts fit into your book marketing goals depends on your interests and skills, too. Podcast interviews and hosting aren’t for everyone, even if your readers love them. And that’s okay. But if they are, these podcast facts might just nudge you closer to taking action.<\/p>\n
Let’s do a little authors and podcasts research of our own! In the comments: Do you listen to podcasts? Please add your gender and age. Yes\/no, age, gender.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n(Editor\u2019s note: This article was first published in July 2016. It has been updated and expanded.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"podcast](\"https:\/\/buildbookbuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/19-cool-podcast-facts-every-author-needs-to-know.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI love listening to podcasts.<\/p>\n
But I’m an “outlier” in my 55 and older age group.<\/p>\n
Only 20% of us in this age category in the U.S. listen to podcasts. (The rest don’t know what they’re missing, including some great true crime stories like Sweet Bobby,<\/a> the one I listened to on a road trip last weekend.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,78,11],"tags":[1492,1437,815,51,1493],"class_list":["post-8511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opportunities-to-learn","category-tactics","tag-podcast-facts","tag-podcasting","tag-podcasts","tag-target-audience","tag-who-will-buy-your-book"],"yoast_head":"\n19 cool podcast facts every author needs to know - Build Book Buzz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should podcasts be in your book marketing plan? 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