The COVID Pandemic changed a lot of things – one of them was how people listen to podcasts. First, it contributed to a boom in podcast hours listened which appears to be holding in 2022 as the lockdowns disappear.
Second, it’s become apparent as we are now spending more time in our vehicles to commute to and from work, that we’ve reverted mainly to former habits of listening to AM/FM/Satellite radio.
The Infinite Dial Canada 2022 survey by Edison Research is considered the top source.
We’re driving more which makes sense.
And as we do we’re mainly going back to that habit of listening to radio although podcast listening continues to creep higher.
At the same time podcast listening continues to climb.
While these are Canadian statistics the shapes of the charts look the same in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia.
And it’s clear the new habit we’ve developed to listen to more podcast hours is something we do at home.
Other studies show the biggest reason people love podcasts is they allow people to multi task while listening. So they’re listening while doing work around the house – doing dishes, cleaning up after the kids, working in the garage, mowing the law, shoveling snow. The most common image of a podcast listener is someone wearing ear buds or headphones, at home doing something else while tuned in.
What does this mean?
It’s not going unnoticed. You Tub recently hired someone to lead their podcasting efforts. More publishers and advertisers are spending more dollars in podcasting. And that, in turn, means more content is being developed, more platforms and technology that will change how we listen to podcasts.
The at-home trend is also going to change who might decide to podcast, what kinds of shows they might launch and how long those shows might be. Suddenly it’s making more sense for realtors, real estate companies, property developers and anyone or any brand associated with being at home to consider a podcast or at least podcast advertising. And that old adage that a podcast episode should be about 30 minutes because that’s the length of the average commute, is now irrelevant.
There are now estimates the podcast industry will grow to $4 billion by 2024. That clearly shows how big the market is and how much it’s worth. You might even call it a “Home-Based-Industry.”