Subscribe by email, free
Your daily briefing for podcasting and on-demand

Search for ‘Edison Research’

Directory

Edison Research logo
Edison Research
Edison Research produce a number of gold-standard research studies for the podcasting industry, including the Inf...
Data and analysis

Stories

May 7, 2024:
May 1, 2024:
April 19, 2024:
April 11, 2024:
April 2, 2024:
    For 18-34 year-olds, podcasts are almost as popular as TV, says Pierre Bouvard of Cumulus Media and Westwood One, analysing Edison Research’s Infinite Dial data. 48% of 18-34s listen to podcasts each week - nearly as large as TV at 50%. Bouvard also shares “the one podcast slide every marketer should have”.
March 29, 2024:
March 22, 2024:
March 12, 2024:
    The top shows in the UK for Q4/23 were announced by Edison Research. The data, from Edison Podcast Metrics UK, says that the BBC has no shows in the top 10; and there’s only one US show in the top 10, too. Acast hosts the most shows in the list.
February 29, 2024:
February 22, 2024:
    The #1 podcast among Black listeners in the US is the one you’d probably expect: Joe Rogan. However, six shows in the top ten have Black hosts, including The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne Tha God at #2, says Edison Research in the company’s weekly insights email. (That show is also broadcast on 152 US radio stations).
February 14, 2024:
February 9, 2024:
    The Infinite Dial 2024 (for the US) will be unveiled at Evolutions by Podcast Movement in Los Angeles on Mar 28. The gold-standard study from Edison Research is America’s longest-running survey of digital media consumer behaviour. This year, it’s with support from Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM Media.
February 8, 2024:
January 11, 2024:
January 4, 2024:
    Do people binge-listen to podcasts? Yes, says Edison Research: 77% of US podcast listeners say they have listened to multiple episodes of the same podcast in a single session.
December 28, 2023:
November 10, 2023:
November 7, 2023:
November 1, 2023:
October 19, 2023:
October 12, 2023:
October 6, 2023:
September 29, 2023:
    In the UK, BBC Sounds is the third biggest platform used most often to listen to podcasts, according to Edison Podcast Metrics UK. Spotify is #1. Speaking on the Podnews Weekly Review, Edison Research's Melissa Kiesche also reveals big differences with Joe Rogan's audiences in the UK and the US.
September 15, 2023:
September 8, 2023:
September 1, 2023:
    Nielsen released a new Podcasting Today report, with data from Edison Research and Nielsen Scarborough Podcast Buying Power. The total US podcast audience has grown 68% in the last five years, with the number of Hispanic listeners almost doubling. Comedy is the most popular genre.
August 29, 2023:
August 25, 2023:
    For the first time ever, Americans are listening to more on-demand audio (like podcasts and music services) than live, linear audio (like radio), according to data from Edison Research released this week. Larry Rosin, the company's President, says that though there will always be a place for linear radio, the trend will continue into the future.
August 23, 2023:
    Gabriel Soto from Edison Research unveiled a demographic breakdown of weekly podcast listeners, above. "Boomers" are less familiar with podcasting and listen far less; but 91% have a smartphone - representing a significant opportunity for growing podcasts overall. An overview will be in the company's Weekly Insights newsletter in a few weeks.
August 2, 2023:
    Edison Research has published the US Top 50 Podcasts for Q2 2023 - the first time that Edison Podcast Metrics has produced a quarterly ranker. The Joe Rogan Experience is #1, Crime Junkie is at #2 and The Daily is at #3; the highest new entry was Bad Friends, a comedy podcast from Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee, at #34. The survey interviewed 5,352 weekly podcast consumers in the US, aged 13+.
July 28, 2023:
July 26, 2023:
July 20, 2023:
July 18, 2023:
July 4, 2023:
June 27, 2023:
June 16, 2023:
June 13, 2023:
June 9, 2023:
    Radiodays North America is halfway through in Toronto ON, Canada. Among the speakers today, Fatima Zaidi from Quill and CoHost, Sharon Taylor from Omny Studio and Lina Kim from The Podcast Exchange are some of the panel talking about making money from podcasting; Edison Research's Larry Rosin discusses trends in audio, and our Editor James Cridland speaks about great tools from podcasting.
June 8, 2023:
June 2, 2023:
    The Gen Z Podcast Listener Report was unveiled by SXM Media, focusing on US podcast listeners aged between 13-24. According to the study from Edison Research, 47% have listened to podcasts in the last month, and they are more diverse than US monthly podcast listeners as a whole. They discover shows by using YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The report will be the subject of a free webinar on Jun 15.
May 29, 2023:
May 17, 2023:
May 4, 2023:
    The time Americans spend listening to podcasting has hit another record high. The Share of Ear study from Edison Research suggests that podcasts now account for 9% of all time Americans spend with audio. They account for 31% of all time spent with spoken word audio.
May 2, 2023:
April 17, 2023:
    We reported on Edison Research's "batting average" data a few weeks ago, suggesting that true crime is "the genre that yields the highest chance for a hit". Curious, we compared the top 200 list with all 4.05mn podcasts in the Podcast Index, rather than Edison's own comparison with 20,000 shows, just to see if it made a difference. It didn't: the top 5 genres remained unchanged.
April 14, 2023:
April 6, 2023:
    Wonder why so many big companies are still pitching true crime shows? Because true crime is most likely to be a hit podcast, says Edison Research, comparing "the batting average" of more than 20,000 shows in different genres. News, comedy, science and history also have a better-than-average chance of hitting a home run, says the data.
April 4, 2023:
March 15, 2023:
March 14, 2023:
    Data: Edison Research has published The Podcast Consumer 2023, a set of data from the Infinite Dial looking at US listeners to podcasting (and perfect for your slide deck). It was presented by Megan Lazovick and Wondery's General Manager Jeanine Wright at Podcast Movement.
March 13, 2023:
March 3, 2023:
February 23, 2023:
    The Black Listener Report was published by Edison Research with SXM Media and Mindshare. The data suggests that Black Americans are more likely to listen to podcasts monthly (43%) than the total US population (38%) (though less likely to listen weekly).
February 16, 2023:
February 6, 2023:
February 2, 2023:
February 1, 2023:
January 30, 2023:
January 26, 2023:
January 12, 2023:
December 16, 2022:
December 15, 2022:
December 1, 2022:
    First look: Podcast listenership among women in the US is up, says a fact sheet from The Women's Podcast Report 2022, released today by SXM Media and Edison Research. 47 million women have listened in the past month: 35% of all women aged 18+, a figure that's grown by 67% over the past five years.
November 18, 2022:
    The Infinite Dial New Zealand was published by Edison Research. 39% of adults in the country are monthly podcast listeners, placing them (just) above the US. 30% are weekly podcast listeners; and radio continues to do particularly well in the country.
November 14, 2022:
    Podcasting's daily reach continues to rise: Edison Research posts a 20% y-on-y increase in their latest Share of Ear survey; now, 18% of people in the US aged 13+ listen every day. "This graph shows that more people are listening to podcasts, which means content creators have the opportunity to grow time spent listening with those people."
October 28, 2022:
October 27, 2022:
October 21, 2022:
October 14, 2022:
    SXM Media has discovered where and when people listen to podcasts with others. 12% of podcast listeners often listen with someone else: and the company has calculated that podcast advertising gets 5% more impressions from those co-listeners. Listening with someone else is most likely to happen in the car, or when cooking and eating; comedy is the most co-listened genre. The data was conducted with Edison Research and Carat.
September 15, 2022:
September 14, 2022:
    Spotify is the top podcast network in the US based on reach, according to new data from Edison Research. The data measures total listeners to shows from each podcast publisher for the 12 months ending June 30 2022. Spotify's numbers include Spotify Originals, as well as shows from The Ringer, Gimlet, Parcast and others. iHeartRadio remains in third place, behind SXM Media.
September 8, 2022:
August 17, 2022:
August 11, 2022:
August 4, 2022:
August 3, 2022:
July 22, 2022:
July 6, 2022:
July 4, 2022:
July 1, 2022:
June 30, 2022:
June 29, 2022:
June 23, 2022:
    Edison Research's Gabriel Soto is to speak at Podcast Movement, "presenting the opportunities that Edison Research sees for podcasters in 2022". Podcast Movement has announced another set of speakers for their event in Dallas this August. (We note that Kai Chuk from YouTube is also slated as a speaker.)
June 17, 2022:
June 15, 2022:
    In the weekly newsletter with Podsights, Sounds Profitable has announced "the first credible study of the profile of podcast creators in America". The research will be yearly, to track trends and changes in the creator space. The Creators, by Sounds Profitable and Edison Research, will be unveiled on Jun 28: you can register for the free webinar.
June 3, 2022:
    Pre-promoting the release of The Smart Audio Report 2022 on June 16 (free registration), Edison Research has shared the below graph, showing there's still plenty of room for podcast listening to grow on smart speakers.
May 27, 2022:
May 20, 2022:
    In the US, Joe Rogan reaches at least twice as many people as the next most popular show, according to new data released by Edison Research. Describing what's popularly known as 'the long tail', President of Edison Research, Larry Rosin notes that "more than half of all the listening happening in the top thousand podcasts is happening in the top 100". It's the first of a new weekly email from the company.
May 16, 2022:
May 13, 2022:
    The Edison Research Podcast Consumer Tracking Report has a new name: Edison Podcast Metrics. The company has released the top 50 most listened-to podcasts in the US over the last twelve months: Joe Rogan is #1 and has increased his listenership, the company says. Dateline NBC and The Ben Shapiro Show are new entries to the top ten; The Daily has slipped a place to #3. The data is unique in including all available podcasts.
May 10, 2022:
May 5, 2022:
    Podtrac has published the top 20 podcasts for the US for April. There's no change in the top 5, but My Favorite Murder is brand new at #6. Amazon bought the rights in January; it's already a top ten podcast with Triton Digital’s Podcast Ranker and Edison Research’s Podcast Consumer Tracking Report. Podtrac's data is participating publishers, now including Exactly Right Media.
May 2, 2022:
    Tom Webster has announced he is to leave Edison Research. In his newsletter, which also focuses on the recent Spotify financial results, he says he will leave Edison Research at the end of May, and "wants to continue to work to establish a podcast industry: a place where established networks and independent podcasters alike have fair access to information, revenue, and opportunity".
April 21, 2022:
March 31, 2022:
March 24, 2022:
    At Podcast Movement Evolutions, Edison Research unveiled the Infinite Dial 2022. For the first time, the number of US monthly podcast listeners dropped, slightly, to 38% (down from 41% a year ago). The slight drop was mainly 12-34 year-olds "going back to school, and going back to work" after the pandemic, said Edison Research SVP Tom Webster. Data was compiled in January. (The weekly listening figure is now 26%).
March 21, 2022:
    Podcasting is consolidating fast, according to Edison Research's Tom Webster. If you wanted to reach 50% of all weekly podcast consumers a year ago, you would need to have advertised on the top seven podcast networks. But after considerable acquisition of big independent shows in the past twelve months, you can now reach 50% of weekly listeners if you buy advertising on just four podcast networks, he says.
March 11, 2022:
March 9, 2022:
    Podcasts now make up a quarter of all time-listening on smart speakers, according to Edison Research's Share of Ear study. Cumulus Media and WestwoodOne's Audio Active Group has released its analysis on the latest data.
March 7, 2022:
February 25, 2022:
February 18, 2022:
February 16, 2022:
February 14, 2022:
February 10, 2022:
    This year's Edison Research Infinite Dial will be presented at Podcast Movement Evolutions on Mar 23. The research shows the total number of US adults who listen to podcasts, among other things. It's sponsored this year by Wondery and ART19; and you'll also be able to watch online.
February 8, 2022:
February 4, 2022:
January 10, 2022:
December 17, 2021:
    Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2022 will be announced at Podcast Movement Evolutions, the company has announced. Founder and President Larry Rosin is a guest this week on the Podland podcast.
November 30, 2021:
November 29, 2021:
    Facebook is growing for podcast consumption: Tom Webster from Edison Research reports that Q3/21 data showed that 20% of people had listened to a podcast on Facebook. The same data three months earlier was just 8%. Meanwhile, still no sign of podcasts in Facebook outside the US; though if you are, you can now add your podcast to the platform.
November 25, 2021:
November 18, 2021:
November 12, 2021:
November 5, 2021:
    Podcast listening among Black Americans is surging, says findings from the first-ever Edison Research Black Podcast Listener Report by SXM Media and Mindshare. The report says that Black podcast fans would listen more if there were more podcasts with Black hosts.
November 2, 2021:
October 28, 2021:
    "We have become the top platform for podcast consumption in 60-plus countries. And now, according to Edison Research and our own internal sources, we recently became the number one podcast platform US listeners use the most" (subtext: beating Apple)
October 18, 2021:
    She Podcasts took place over the weekend. We're looking forward to reading blogs and posts about it; but here's a snapshot of the top 10 podcasts, according to the Podcast Consumer Tracking Report from Edison Research, split by men and women. It made Arielle "glum".
October 11, 2021:
September 17, 2021:
September 7, 2021:
    Earlier this year, SmartLess was also the second-highest new entry in the top 50 US podcasts from Edison Research's Podcast Consumer Tracking Report.
September 3, 2021:
August 31, 2021:
August 10, 2021:
    Edison Research has released the Top 50 US Podcasts by audience size, for Q2 2021. Joe Rogan is still #1, The Daily is #2, and Crime Junkie #3 - the data is compiled by asking participants what podcasts they listened-to in the past week, rather than raw download figures, and should measure everyone.
August 5, 2021:
August 4, 2021:
    Podcast Movement begins today, in Nashville TN, USA. We can expect many different product launches, and keynotes from Edison Research's Tom Webster and the founders of Fireside Chat.
July 14, 2021:
July 13, 2021:
    Australians love their smart speakers, according to new research from Edison Research and Commercial Radio Australia. 26% of people own one; compared to 33% in the US. The research doesn't specifically mention podcast consumption (though 41% claim to use it to "get the news").
June 30, 2021:
June 29, 2021:
June 9, 2021:
June 3, 2021:
May 25, 2021:
May 24, 2021:
May 12, 2021:
May 10, 2021:
May 5, 2021:
April 28, 2021:
April 9, 2021:
April 7, 2021:
March 15, 2021:
March 12, 2021:
    More people are listening to podcasts than ever before. With Triton Digital, Edison Research has released its Infinite Dial 2021 study, which you can read in full on their website. Showing continued growth for podcast consumption, the study reports that 41%, or 116m of US adults 12+ now listen to podcasts every month. There are more numbers and analysis below.
March 10, 2021:
March 9, 2021:
    This seemingly small change could dramatically affect the industry. Tom Webster from Edison Research says 47% of people who don't currently listen to podcasts think that 'subscribing' to a podcast will cost money, describing it as a stone in the shoe of podcasting's growth run. He tells Podnews: “Today, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube are the three most widely used services to play podcasts, and now the word Subscribe means ‘automatically download for free’ in exactly none of them. Podcasters will have no choice but to adapt their language accordingly or risk confusing listeners.”
March 8, 2021:
March 1, 2021:
February 10, 2021:
February 3, 2021:
January 20, 2021:
January 15, 2021:
December 18, 2020:
December 15, 2020:
    Edison Research is planning a final webinar for the year. 10 for '20 will showcase the company's ten most notable findings from 2020.
December 9, 2020:
    56% of heavy podcast listeners think the number of ads in podcasts is increasing; and 38% believe there are already too many, according to the Super Listeners Study from Edison Research, PodcastOne and Ad Results Media. However, listeners felt more positive towards ads than previous years.
November 27, 2020:
October 21, 2020:
October 19, 2020:
October 14, 2020:
    Three-quarters of Americans listen to the spoken word - the latest from The 2020 Spoken Word Audio Report, published yesterday by NPR and Edison Research. From all audio, the share of spoken word audio listening, including podcasts, has increased by 30% over the last six years and by 8% in just the last year. The research also found that almost a third of all listening is to podcasts from NPR and public radio.
October 7, 2020:
    Podfront, a preview of new shows from seven of the US's largest podcast publishers, took place yesterday. A number of new shows were announced, and the event had high-profile guests including Hollywood actor Elle Fanning, comedian Sarah Silverman and NBA star JJ Redick, as well as podcast royalty like ABC News's Brad Mielke, NPR's Guy Raz, Wondery CEO Hernan Lopez, and Edison Research SVP Tom Webster.
October 5, 2020:
    US listeners are listening to 8% more spoken word than last year. That's the highlight from the upcoming Spoken Word Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research, which will be unveiled on October 13.
October 1, 2020:
    A clever promotional idea: Edison Research have produced a Spotify playlist featuring all their team member appearances on podcasts.
September 1, 2020:
    In quarantine, we're listening to podcasts for an extra half-hour a week. That's the findings of Edison Research, which unveiled data from its studies in a short, 13-minute presentation.
August 25, 2020:
August 13, 2020:
August 11, 2020:
    Edison Research has published a top 30 US Podcasts ranker. Called "the only podcast ranker that covers the entire US podcasting industry", it claims to measure shows by reach ("people"), not downloads; it's based on online interviews with over 8,000 weekly podcast consumers over a near 12-month period ending in June. We've published the full list.
July 27, 2020:
July 21, 2020:
July 15, 2020:
    Edison Research's Tom Webster is on The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast. He focuses on the Latino Podcast Listener Report. The episode also includes average downloads stats: if your podcast is doing more than 120 downloads per episode, you're doing better than half the shows out there, says Libsyn VP Rob Walch.
July 14, 2020:
July 10, 2020:
    Americans are spending less time listening to YouTube, according to new data from Edison Research. 6% fewer Americans used it 'last week' according to the data. Joe Rogan comes off the platform in September. YouTube Music, the company's Spotify competitor, is likely to replace Google Play Music later this year: and hopefully Google Play Music Podcasts will stop being a thing.
July 6, 2020:
July 1, 2020:
June 30, 2020:
    Edison Research release their Latino Podcast Listener Report later today in a webinar, focusing on US latino audiences.
June 22, 2020:
June 19, 2020:
    Another set of podcasting data is on the way: Edison Research is unveiling the Latino Podcast Listener Report on June 30 (which covers US listeners only). Register here for the webinar in English or en español.
June 17, 2020:
June 16, 2020:
June 10, 2020:
    Edison Research has revealed that podcast consumption in Australia is being driven by those aged 35-54. "This is likely due to higher listening of AM/FM/DAB+ radio among this age group, coupled with a perception that podcasts are simply previously-aired radio programs available on-demand".
June 8, 2020:
    Edison Research has revealed its US podcast ranker top 10. Unlike Podtrac or Triton Digital, who only measure downloads from selected publishers, the Edison Research data is calculated from 2,013 online interviews with podcast listeners about all the podcasts they listen to, which is then weighted to be nationally representative, and calculates reach ('people'), rather than total downloads. Joe Rogan is at #1; The Daily at #2; This American Life at #3.
June 5, 2020:
    37% of Canadians listen to podcasts every month, according to new data from Edison Research's Infinite Dial Canada 2020. That puts monthly Canadian podcast consumption on par with the US. Weekly listening is even higher than its southern neighbour, at 24%: the highest figure recorded by the international surveys so far.
May 20, 2020:
May 13, 2020:
May 1, 2020:
    Edison Research and NPR have released their Smart Audio Report 2020 showing how smart speakers are being used; the full report is on NPR's site. Podcasts don't get mentioned in the report by name (they're typically not listened-to on smart speakers) though the data does show an increase in people who want "the news" from their smart speaker.
April 29, 2020:
April 23, 2020:
    Edison Research and NPR are releasing their Smart Audio Report, which looks at the usage of smart speakers, a little earlier this year, in a free webinar on Apr 30.
April 15, 2020:
    If you buy the top 5 US podcast networks, you reach 50% of weekly podcast consumers, according to new data from Edison Research's Podcast Consumer Tracker. "Achieving that kind of reach 10 years ago would have meant buying thousands of individual podcasts, but as these reach numbers continue to change, buying podcasts at scale is more feasible than ever," says Tom Webster. The networks aren't named.
April 6, 2020:
March 26, 2020:
    Edison Research are planning an additional webinar, Inside The Infinite Dial, on Apr 3. Expect to hear "the entire content strategy behind the project, what we have learned over the last two decades, and how to translate that success to your content practices."
March 20, 2020:
    37% of US adults - over 104m people - now listen every month to podcasts, according to the newly-released Infinite Dial 2020 survey from Edison Research and Triton Digital. The figure has grown markedly from 32% a year ago. The data also shows podcasting continuing to head toward gender parity, and increased use of smart speakers. In other news, the research says that almost a third of all Americans no longer own an AM/FM radio.
March 16, 2020:

Tom Webster, SVP, Edison Research, who releases The Infinite Dial on Mar 19

March 13, 2020:
    Edison Research has cancelled its in-person unveiling of their Infinite Dial 2020 research, for COVID-19 reasons. You can sign up for the live webinar - Mar 19, 1pm Eastern; and they promise an extended Q&A session.
March 11, 2020:
March 5, 2020:
    More Americans know what a podcast is than ever. In a keynote at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit yesterday, Edison Research SVP Tom Webster announced that, in the upcoming Infinite Dial 2020, 75% of US population 12+ say they are familiar with podcasting - a figure up from 70% last year. That's the equivalent of 212 million people. The new data is released on Mar 19 in a free webinar.
March 3, 2020:
    Radiodays Asia, a radio and podcast event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has announced its first speakers, which include Edison Research's Tom Webster, radio and podcast consultant Valerie Geller, and Mae Mariyam Thomas from the Maed In India podcast.
February 28, 2020:
February 26, 2020:
February 24, 2020:
    Edison Research have released a top 10 podcast ranker, from its Podcast Consumer Tracker subscription product. The ranker is the top ten podcasts in the US by reach among weekly podcast consumers. It's based on 4,053 online interviews, making it the most robust reach-based study we've seen. Joe Rogan is #1, with This American Life at #2 and The Daily at #3.
February 11, 2020:
    Podfront LA is happening tomorrow morning in Los Angeles: eight podcast networks will be announcing new shows, and Edison Research's Tom Webster will be giving an opening keynote. The event is at Century City in Los Angeles: we'll have details of the announcements later. Podcast Movement Evolutions is later this week.
January 27, 2020:
January 9, 2020:
December 17, 2019:
    You're having a laugh: the most listened-to podcast genres in the US are... comedy, news, and "society & culture", according to new data released by Edison Research's Podcast Consumer Tracker, which the company calls "the only comprehensive measure of what podcast consumers are listening to (not downloading)". 36% of weekly podcast consumers are listening to at least one comedy show, according to the data, while 23% listen to a news show.
November 22, 2019:
    The above data is from the Pocket Casts app - but is it representative of all podcast users? In the US, The Podcast Consumer Tracker from Edison Research, released yesterday, highlights differences between users of iPhone vs Android, and different apps, too. Tom Webster told Podnews:
November 21, 2019:
November 18, 2019:
    The Freenoter, with Tom Webster (you may know him as that great speaker from Edison Research) and Tamsen Webster (you might know her as a speaker trainer and "idea whisperer"), covers all the angles of how to build a profit from speaking for free. (Omny Studio)
November 13, 2019:
    Data: 24% of audio listening is to the spoken word, not to music. NPR and Edison Research's Spoken Word Audio Report has been released - the survey reveals that spoken word consumption (which includes podcasting as well as speech radio) has increased considerably in the past five years.
November 8, 2019:
    The share of time spent listening to spoken word audio has increased 20% since 2014, and this growth is cutting into time spent with music. So says the to-be-released Edison Research and NPR Spoken Word Audio Report: you can register for the free webinar here.
November 6, 2019:
November 1, 2019:
October 23, 2019:
October 22, 2019:
October 17, 2019:
    60% of podcast "Super Listeners" appreciate podcast advertisers for supporting their favorite podcasts, according to new data revealed by Edison Research: and only 24% say there are too many ads in podcasts. However, podcast publishers are urged to be careful, since 50% of podcast super listeners want to limit their exposure to ads, says the topline results. You can register for a webinar of the complete study.
October 15, 2019:
    Edison Research has released the first Infinite Dial Germany, a survey to examine how Germans are consuming audio, made to be comparable with other countries. 17% of Germans have listened to a podcast in the past month, compared to 33% of the USA, 22% of Australia, 36% of Canada and 10% of the South African metro population.
October 11, 2019:
    Edison Research is about to unveil more data: this time, a look at podcasting's Super Listeners. "With both direct response and brand advertising increasing over the past few years, how do podcast consumers feel about the role of ads and commercial messages in the content they love?" You can join a free webinar on October 22.
September 16, 2019:
September 2, 2019:
    Tom Webster from Edison Research has published a version of his Podcast Movement speech, Three Ways To Survive Podcasting's Existential Crisis. He suggests that listeners don't care about RSS, and just care about the show: however it's delivered. Webster recommends that we be on whatever platform listeners want us to be.
August 8, 2019:
July 30, 2019:
July 29, 2019:
    RAJAR, the UK audio measurement company, has published the latest edition of their MIDAS study for summer 2019, which claims 16% of UK adults listen to podcasts weekly. That figure increases to 26% of 15-24 year-olds. The data also says that 92% of all listening to podcasts is done alone: that figure compares with just 54% of live radio. The numbers aren't directly comparable with the Edison Research data seen in other countries.
July 22, 2019:
    Probably because it's only 16-64 and only internet users, these figures are significantly higher than the gold standard of Edison Research's Infinite Dial research, which gives the data as 32% in the US, 36% of Canadians, and 22% of Australians.
July 9, 2019:
June 27, 2019:
June 26, 2019:
    NPR and Edison Research have released their Smart Audio Report 2019. Their data suggests that 21% of American adults (53m people) own a smart speaker. Podcasts don't appear in the report, though 42% claim to use their speaker at least once a week to listen to the news.
June 25, 2019:
    Edison Research and NPR are unveiling their Smart Audio Report 2019 study today at 2pm New York time in a free webinar. Tom Webster and Joel Sucherman are presenting the highlights of their findings about smart speaker use. 69% of smart speaker users are using them daily; but a majority say they don't know enough about their device to use all the features it offers.
June 20, 2019:
    NPR and Edison Research are unveiling their new Smart Audio Report on June 25th at 2pm Eastern. You can register for the webinar here; it'll be presented by Tom Webster and Joel Sucherman.
June 4, 2019:
May 30, 2019:
May 10, 2019:
May 6, 2019:
May 3, 2019:
May 2, 2019:
    15% of Australians have listened to a podcast in the past week, says Edison Research in a partial release of their 2019 Infinite Dial Australia study. Aussie listeners consume an average of six podcasts each week. (The research is compiled to be directly comparable to other countries - in the US, 22% are weekly listeners; listening to an average of seven podcasts a week.)
April 29, 2019:
    Edison Research is announcing a new set of data for podcast networks and advertising agencies. The Podcast Consumer Quarterly Tracking Report is a subscription product which offers bespoke research for individual podcast networks.
April 15, 2019:
April 12, 2019:
    Edison Research revealed their Podcast Consumer 2019 study yesterday in a webinar. They have posted the full slide deck and video on their website. On the Twitter hashtag, Midroll highlight that 70% of podcast consumers are doing "nothing else" when listening to podcasts; Mark Asquith highlights that 75% of non-listeners believe that podcasts are "just not for them", and sees this as a marketing opportunity; and Evo Terra highlights that podcast listeners overwhelmingly use their phones for just that.
April 11, 2019:
    Edison Research release The Podcast Consumer 2019 today. You can watch the webinar today at 2pm ET.
April 2, 2019:
March 20, 2019:
    In new data, Nielsen say that 19% of US adults listen to podcasts every week. Edison Research's recent Infinite Dial says 22% of US adults listen weekly; the two independently researched figures look close enough to us, and both look excellent news.
March 15, 2019:
    Pacific Content's Steve Pratt has interviewed Edison Research's Tom Webster about the recent Infinite Dial data, and pulled out 10 big podcasting takeaways.
March 14, 2019:
March 13, 2019:
March 12, 2019:
    Steven Goldstein has been poring over the latest Edison Research and Triton Digital results, and has discovered some interesting data - not least, how successful Spotify could be for podcasting.
March 7, 2019:
    Over half of US adults have listened to a podcast. Edison Research and Triton Digital have published Infinite Dial 2019, a set of research on US media consumption. One third of US adults (90 million people) listened to a podcast over the last month, the survey also reports. You can view the webinar here; or grab the slides. There is lots of data in the release, but - happily for us - the media have focused on podcasting's growth.
February 28, 2019:
    Tom Webster from Edison Research appears on the latest episode of Spreaker Live Show, talking about the upcoming Infinite Dial data release and free webinar.
February 27, 2019:
    Edison Research has given a sneak preview of one slide of their Infinite Dial data release next week. "This year, for the first time ever, half of the population uses YouTube as a music service every week," they say. You can register for the free webinar.
February 26, 2019:
    The RAIN Podcast Business Summit is next Tuesday in New York NY, USA, focusing on Unlocking the podcast mainstream. There are great speakers, including Google's Zack Reneau-Wedeen, NPR's Joel Sucherman, and Edison Research's Tom Webster. We'll be there, and you can be too - this Podnews-exclusive link will give you 50% off the ticket price.
February 11, 2019:
    This edition of Shareable Podcast features Edison Research's Tom Webster, known by many as the host of Infinite Dial and a great public speaker. He's interviewed in a show entitled 'Inside the World of Data-Driven Marketing'.
February 7, 2019:
    Tom Webster points out Edison Research numbers showing that 25% of audio listened-to is speech programming (aka "podcasts"), which explains why Spotify want to invest in podcasting if they want to be the #1 audio platform in the world. He also suggests that this paves the way for commercial music in podcasts (since Spotify holds the licences) - and perhaps means a reinvention of music radio, too.
February 5, 2019:
    Edison Research have revealed that we're listening to less of our own music tracks (both CDs and MP3s). "Five years ago 38% of all Americans ages 13 and older listened to owned music at some point each day, today this has fallen by one-third to 25%." The company promises a further blog post to explain whether all this listening has moved to online music services like Spotify - we'd hope podcasts have a part to play too.
January 29, 2019:

Welcome to the nearly 300 people who've subscribed over the past week, including folks from Acast, Bengo Media, the BBC, Edison Research, Entercom, NPR, Slate, USA Today, Condé Nast, Spotify, iHeartMedia and Himalaya. If you like Podnews, please let others know, and consider supporting us.

January 28, 2019:
    Edison Research's Tom Webster has written a guide to advertising that works in podcasting, based on dozens of ad-effectiveness surveys for advertisers and podcast networks that the company has done. Slapping in a radio spot into a podcast brings no particular benefit to an advertiser, he writes, and may even harm the podcast.
January 25, 2019:
    Set your calendars: the results of Triton Digital and Edison Research's 2019 US Infinite Dial survey will be live online on Wednesday, March 6, at 2pm ET. It contains lots of data about US audio consumption. You can join the webinar here.
January 23, 2019:
    Radiodays Europe has published its preliminary programme. This conference, in Lausanne Switzerland at the end of March, is the world's meeting point for the world of radio and audio. Tom Webster from Edison Research, and James Cridland, Podnews's Editor, are amongst the speakers.
January 8, 2019:
    The total number of smart-speakers has increased by 78% in the past year: and 21% of people in the US now have one. New data from NPR and Edison Research, from a survey conducted after the Dec 2018 holidays, shows a marked increase in ownership of smart speakers.
December 13, 2018:
    Radiodays Europe, a conference in Switzerland in late March, has just announced many more speakers, including our Editor James Cridland, Tom Webster from Edison Research, and ideas guru Wade Kingsley who tells us that brainstorming is nonsense, or words to that effect - here he is at Next Radio last year.
November 21, 2018:
October 8, 2018:
    The Podcast Consumer Canada 2018 report has been released by Edison Research and Triton Digital. 19% of adults are Weekly Podcast Listeners and 28% are Monthly Podcast Listeners.
October 2, 2018:
    Edison Research unveiled some data about in-car audio. Podcasting appeared not to be in the list, so we checked - it's part of the "other" category, at less than 4% of all audio listened-to in the car . Larry Rosin, who presented the data, told us:
August 21, 2018:
    B7 Media, a UK independent producer, has announced a deal with Eyewear Publishing to produce a range of audiobooks. (44% of Americans have listened to an audiobook; the same number as who've listened to a podcast - Edison Research Infinite Dial 2018)
August 1, 2018:
July 25, 2018:
    In a packed presentation, Tom Webster from Edison Research revealed video research with people who'd never listened to podcasts at Podcast Movement 2018.
July 20, 2018:
    The Smart Audio Report from NPR and Edison Research has been released, highlighting the behaviour of the 43m Americans who own a smart speaker, according to the study. There is lots of data in the full slide deck. 39% of smart-speaker owners say they listen to podcasts at least once a week; 28% use their smart speaker to do so. Edison Research reveals more data at Podcast Movement.
July 12, 2018:
July 10, 2018:
    Edison Research is to unveil a new study at Podcast Movement: "Podcasting's Next Frontier: 100 Million Listeners". (We'll be there.)
June 27, 2018:
June 15, 2018:
    Tom Webster from Edison Research spoke at Radiodays Europe's Podcast Day from a hotel room after travel plans went awry. But it does mean we can watch his speech.
May 29, 2018:
    Larry Rosin from Edison Research will be presenting the Infinite Dial Australia 2018 report in a free webinar this Thursday at 11.30am Sydney time. There is lots of information about podcasting in this report; here's where to register.
May 18, 2018:
May 8, 2018:
May 2, 2018:
    Edison Research have unveiled their Infinite Dial Australia research, which is directly comparable to their recent data from the US and Canada. 13% of Australians listen to podcasts every week. (Canada: 19%; US 17%). The research also says that 14% of weekly podcasts are from Australian radio.
April 24, 2018:
April 20, 2018:
    Edison Research release Podcast Consumer 2018, the world's most-quoted research about podcasting, with Triton Digital. The weighted survey is based on telephone research (rather than online polling, which adds an obvious bias in many other studies), and interviewed 2,000 Americans. RAIN pores through the data.
April 10, 2018:
    Edison Research have announced that The Podcast Consumer 2018, with Triton Digital, will be presented on Thursday April 19th - here's where to sign up.
March 22, 2018:
    Edison Research's Infinite Dial Canada 2018 will be unveiled on April 4th, at 2pm Toronto time. It's the first release of the data especially for Canada, eh. You can register (and get the right timezone for you) over here.
March 20, 2018:
    Podcast listeners listen to podcasts more than anything else, according to new data from Edison Research's Share of Ear®. The data was released today at Radiodays Europe, the radio conference in Vienna, by Tom Webster. The amount of AM/FM radio listened-to drops from 51% of all audio to just 26% for those who have discovered podcasts. He was speaking in a panel with podnews editor James Cridland.
March 12, 2018:
    Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2018 research (which we covered on Mar 9) gets a lot of coverage. Steven Goldstein points out a few of his take-outs: particularly the study's findings that listeners are enjoying more podcasts per week. Radio World highlights advice from Edison Research's Tom Webster, not least "explain the contents, not the technology".
March 9, 2018:
    Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2018 came out yesterday. They survey is sponsored by Triton Digital. It reports:
February 28, 2018:
    A reminder that Edison Research's "Infinite Dial 2018" data is released on Thursday March 8th. It promises an expanded section about podcasting. Here's where to register.
February 21, 2018:
February 7, 2018:
    Edison Research released more data around smart speakers, this time for the Country Radio Seminar. Country radio listeners (this means "listeners to country music" not rural listeners) are interestingly more likely to listen to AM/FM radio using their smart speaker.
January 24, 2018:
    On 11 Jan we reported the launch of the NPR and Edison Research Smart Audio Report and noted that it didn't contain details about podcast use. We asked: and they've told us:
January 17, 2018:
    Edison Research is expanding their Infinite Dial study to Canada - the research covers both radio and podcast data. They've also produced a version for Australia.
January 12, 2018:
    Steven Goldstein looks through the numbers from NPR and Edison Research's Smart Speaker study, unveiled yesterday.
January 11, 2018:
    US data from NPR and Edison Research was announced at CES today: The Smart Audio Report says lots of positive things about smart speakers (two-thirds are Amazon Echo, by the way). The word "podcasting" doesn't appear in the report, although it notices a high degree of use for news bulletins.
January 5, 2018:
    Edison Research, the company responsible for regular podcasting research in many markets as well as media research and election polling, has announced a major expansion as well as promotions for, among others, Tom Webster and Megan Lazovick (who have both presented the company's podcasting research). The company is based in Somerville NJ, USA.
December 18, 2017:
    Some data about audio-book consumption, including some numbers from Edison Research, who became a podnews silver sponsor on Friday.
November 16, 2017:
November 15, 2017:
October 26, 2017:
    We linked to this video earlier, but here's Edison Research linking to their own Megan Lazovick speaking at Next Radio about "the pod people".
September 26, 2017:
September 7, 2017:
August 29, 2017:
    Event: Next Radio, London, UK; Sep 18. The "radio ideas conference", but speakers from Audioboom, the Australian ABC, the BBC, Edison Research, and many more covering podcasting too.
August 25, 2017:
    Stats corner: The above piece comes with a stat apparently claiming 25% of all audio time on smartphones is to podcasting: it isn't; the figure is actually 6% (Edison Research Podcast Consumer 2017 p45). The errant figure probably comes from 24%, the number of Americans who listen to at least one podcast a month, according the same study (p47).
August 4, 2017:
    A German newspaper publishes a long piece about "Netflix for the ears", talking about both Spotify and Netflix adding German-language podcasts to its service. Spotify appears to have some exclusives, too - and as the article says, neither Spotify nor Deezer can differentiate themselves with music alone. (via Edison Research's Larry Rosin)
July 27, 2017:
    Next Radio, the UK-based conference, confirmed more speakers yesterday, including Megan Lazovick from Edison Research and Alex Adey from AudioBoom. Alex will be talking about the rise of unofficial, fan-based podcasting; Megan will cover Edison Research's podcast consumer research. Also speaking, Valerie Geller who is currently working on an LA-based podcast, and Liz Jaynes from BBC Radio, talking about artwork's ability to generate clicks. Tickets are £149; it's on September 18th in central London.
July 13, 2017:
July 5, 2017:
    Some data points from the recent Edison Research Infinite Dial study in Australia. Podcasting appears particularly strong in Australia: this article compares Australia with the US and says Aussies are more familiar but less vigorous in adoption.
June 26, 2017:
June 2, 2017:
    Edison Research releases Share of Ear: Canada. Podcasts get 3% of "audio time"; radio (AM/FM/HD/IP/SiriusXM) gets 65%. (When comparing podcast v radio, remember podcasts finish, and radio doesn't.)

Get a global view on podcasting and on-demand with our daily news briefing