To watch or to listen? PodPoll 26 reveals why you need a strategy for both

Video is reshaping how Australians consume podcasts according to PodPoll 26, Australia’s most comprehensive annual study into podcast consumption habits, released by podcast production house Deadset Studios and market research firmInsightfully. YouTube’s share of podcast consumption has climbed to 55% in the past year, Spotify’s share is steady (58%), while Netflix is now also used by Australians for podcast discovery.

Yet audio remains the preferred format overall. 60% of regular podcast consumers say they’d rather listen to a podcast than watch one, compared with 23% who prefer to watch and 17% who have no preference. Millennials are the most likely of any generation to prefer listening, while Gen Z is the most open to watching.

The data also shows format preference isn’t fixed. Among listeners who use video platforms to consume podcasts, 72% say they move between watching and listening, rather than sticking to one mode. Short-form video is reshaping discovery too: 43% of regular consumers, rising to 60% of Gen Z, say there are podcasts they only ever consume via social media clips.

“The audience has splintered and that’s actually good news if you plan for it,” says Deadset Studios Director Kellie Riordan. “We’re advising clients to think of video and audio as two distinct products with two different jobs — video drives discovery and your clips travel on social, but long-form listening is still where the deepest engagement happens. Producing for only one of those is leaving an audience, and a revenue stream, on the table.”

Insightfully Managing Director Leanne White says the generational and gender splits in the data should reshape how organisations think about platform. “It’s tempting to assume younger audiences are all video-first, but our data says otherwise. Gen Z men are actually more likely to prefer audio than Gen Z women. If you’re only building a strategy around video because you assume that’s what younger listeners want, you might be missing half your audience.”

Other key findings from PodPoll 26:

• Overall podcast consumption continues to climb, with 10.3 million Australians now regular monthly listeners, up from 47% to 50% of the population year-on-year

• 77% of listeners say they complete a podcast episode always or most of the time, regardless of format — a stickiness few other media can claim.• Millennials are podcasting’s power generation in Australia, with 71% of them consuming podcasts regularly

• The majority of podcast consumers say they actively seek out podcasts specifically because they don’t require a screen.