Podcasts

Podcasts are more popular than ever. What are the current statistics for podcasting?

In 2020 over 155 million people listen to a podcast every week
There are over 700,000 active podcasts and 29 million podcast episodes available
The most popular age group for podcasts listeners is 25-44 which make up 49% of total listeners

So, is podcasting the new way to share your ideas or theories? Let’s find out.

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Multitasking

‍As the world becomes busier, the podcast format has become incredibly popular. Because audio content allows the listener to multitask. It gives them the ability to dive into topics without really having to set aside time. Podcasts also offer articles in smaller bite-sized chunks perfect for daily commutes or busy routines.

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Storytelling and microlearning

‍Podcasts are an amazing medium for storytelling and the genre is growing massively. More and more people are discovering the potential of podcasting for creating immersive worlds. It’s well-known that stories help people to learn. Studies agree.

Everything is easier to remember once it is part of a narrative.

Podcasts are also a great way to teach new content. Learners can listen on their own, freeing up valuable classroom time for more active learning. And this makes podcast a perfect format to integrate into microlearning programs. One of the great powers of podcasting is the attention it attracts. It's tricky to encourage learners to spend 30 minutes reading an article or watching a recorded lecture. That's because text and video require full attention – you need to sit patiently, doing just one thing. Knowing our attention span is decreasing enormously this is a real challenge.

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Easy to make and cost-effective

‍You don’t need fancy video equipment or editing software to make a great podcast. USB microphones don’t cost much and plug straight into any laptop or computer. Of course, quality does matter and a soundproof room will have a positive effect on the result. But overall: make one podcast and it’s there for years to come. Compared to other learning formats, podcasts are one of the most cost-effective options you could choose.

In some ways, the old radio plays are coming back to live with the rise of the podcast. With the main difference, we can now listen to them everywhere any time.