In the United States popularity of the podcast market is increasing. At present, approximately 25% of US adults aged 18 to 49 listen to podcasts at least once a month. In the last two years, many large digital publishers have released their own podcasts. Increase in digital media consumption on mobile has made it more attractive to both listeners and advertisers.
Distributers have now started monetizing podcasts. In 2016 advertisers in US, spent an estimated $35 million on podcasts and this number is more than 2% as compared to 2015. As per the study by comScore, nearly two-thirds of all podcast listeners have shown their purchase interest after hearing advertisements on podcast and that number could surge, in case podcasts assuage advertisers’ concerns.
Because of strong growth in mobile, video and social spending, dollars are flowing from traditional media such as newspapers and magazines to digital media and changing the face of US media market. California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are the states that have the highest number of podcast listeners using podcast players.
As per measurement done by Acast, a European podcast streaming platform and distributor, curated platform for podcast, that listeners enjoy podcast either early in the morning around 7-8 am or later at night around 11 pm ET respectively. Oskar Serrander, general manager, Acast US, said “As home devices become more popular, people can enjoy hearing the morning or evening news in the same way they used to use the radio. We all have some version of screen fatigue these days, so being able to just take a moment to listen may also be fueling this podcast expansion.”