Reports: Podcasts

Browse all of our reports, featuring our analysts' expert insights and analysis of audience segmentation, emerging trends and technologies, value chains, market shares, predictions and more – backed by our proprietary survey data and bespoke models & forecasts. Become a subscriber to get new ones every month, or just pick one to get started.

Germany media consumption Q4 2024
Growth potential on all fronts

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Mark Mulligan

April 2025

US

UK

France

This report presents MIDiA consumer entertainment data across media, music, audio, and games. Data covered includes streaming music, podcasts, social media, games consoles, and much more. All data is from our Q4 2024 survey, fielded in US, Canada, Brazil,...

UK media consumption Q4 2024
A mature market with niche growth prospects

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Laura Fisher

April 2025

Streaming

Streaming Music

US

This report presents MIDiA consumer entertainment data across media, music, audio, and games. Key data and insights: Time spent and weekly active users (by format and platform)for streaming music, podcasts, social media, games consoles and more. All data refers to the UK only (n = 1,000) except for ‘all-country average’ referring to the weighte...

Podcasts as a key information source
Implications for media companies

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Rutger Rosenborg

April 2025

Media

Podcasts

Audience Insight

Podcasts have begun to rival traditional media as a key source of news and political information for podcast listeners, especially among millennials and Gen Z. To stay relevant, traditional media must innovate, while podcast companies can solidify their dominance.

Audio’s entertainment value
Examining audio listeners’ cross-entertainment lives

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Rutger Rosenborg

February 2025

music industry

Music streaming

Content

Typically, the marketing team for a games company or TV show would not be thinking of audiobooks and podcast listeners as a key consumer segment to address. Yet, podcast and audiobook listeners are digitally sophisticated and spend more time and money than the consumer average on most forms of entertainment – including games, music, and video.

Before and after podcasts
Mapping the podcast listener journey

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Rutger Rosenborg

January 2025

US

UK

France

The global importance of video for podcasting extends into the unique market dynamics of the US, UK, France, Mexico, and Japan. Not only does this justify Spotify’s strategic video push, but it also indicates a need for other platforms to follow suit.

Socioeconomics of podcast listening
Engaging a higher value audience

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Rutger Rosenborg

October 2024

Creators

Subscriptions

Radio

Podcasts alone will struggle to monetise via subscriptions, leaving advertising as podcasts’ key source of revenue for the foreseeable future. However, podcasts do attract high-earning, high-spending audiences, which are often hard to reach with conventional advertising.

Audio substitute threat
Measuring consumer time allocation

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Rutger Rosenborg

February 2024

Streaming

cannibalization

Radio

All forms of entertainment compete not only for the same time, but increasingly for the same digital real estate. As audio streaming platforms move towards all-in-one access to multiple formats, both platforms and content providers must understand the threats of substitution and cannibalisation from within.

Music’s podcast potential
Focus on branding over discovery

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Annie Langston

August 2023

Labels

Streaming

Artists

In this hyper-fragmented entertainment consumption space, artists and labels must use every tool available to break out above the noise. Artists must diversify their content to not only promote their music, but to develop their personal brand. Podcasts are an effective vessel to target niche audiences and build a brand, both within and outside of m...

Podcasts and radio
How radio can play by its own rules

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Annie Langston

March 2023

Spotify

live

Radio

Radio set the stage for music streaming and podcasts, only to watch them take portions of its audience. However, there is a clear opportunity for radio companies to assert themselves in the podcast market, drawing on decades of programming expertise to retain audiences and find new ones.

Podcast videos
Format blurring expands podcasts’ future

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Annie Langston

February 2023

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Podcasts are breaking out of traditional audio and entering the video space, as nearly a quarter of consumers now watch podcast videos monthly. Visual elements for podcasts are becoming a crucial tool to reach new audiences and engage current listeners.

Closing the background gap
Focused versus background audio listening

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Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

November 2022

Spotify

Radio

YouTube

The rise of attention inflation means that consumers are maximising their limited time by multitasking between various formats, spurring a rise in background consumption. This creates a “new” space for platforms to compete for consumers’ time. Among entertainment formats, audio is best placed to conquer background listening, but music streami...

Radio audiences
A window of opportunity

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Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

September 2022

Streaming Music

Spotify

Radio

Streaming claimed radio’s younger, music-focused audiences while podcasts are now beginning to do the same for older, spoken-word audiences. However, it is not yet determined that the impact needs to be as disruptive for radio companies. With radio audience declines slowing, and even experiencing a modest rebound, a window of opportunity exists f...

Audio creators
The new creative frontier

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Annie Langston

July 2022

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

While exclusive content deals with celebrity names signposted the audio strategy of many of the market’s big players, audience platforms are already recognising the growing importance of independent audio creators as the market develops and expands.

Audio audiences
Steady change

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Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

February 2022

Radio

radio audiences

music radio

Podcasts reinvigorated the audio market, bringing with it the promise of a ‘Netflix moment’ for radio. Though podcast audience growth has not kept pace with industry interest and hype, podcasts have been at the centre of a boom in audio consumption that was accentuated by Covid lockdowns, and that is recalibrating post-pandemic.

Music consumer survey, Q3 2021
A new generation leans forward

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Tatiana Cirisano

February 2022

Creators

Radio

radio audiences

As streaming subscriptions rise and music increasingly competes with other forms of media for consumers’ limited attention spans, lean-back listening activities are taking precedence over those which are lean-forward. But the full picture is far more varied.

Attention economy
After the lockdown boom

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Mark Mulligan

November 2021

Consumer behaviour

Streaming Music

Radio

The pandemic-triggered change in everyday life resulted in a boom in entertainment consumption, which, in turn, saw growth in emerging formats as well as a temporary rebound for traditional formats. As the world starts to ease back into pre-pandemic routines, much of this newly found entertainment time will go – but the declines will not be evenl...

Podcast audiences
Competing for attention

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Mark Mulligan

May 2021

US

UK

France

2020 was a big year for podcasts, with increased investment, M&A activity and industry moves. Audiences grew too, but still lag behind in hype and expectation, and a portion of this growth has come at the direct expense of music streaming and radio.

Podcast audiences
Competing for attention

Cover image for Podcast audiences

Mark Mulligan

May 2021

US

UK

France

2020 was a big year for podcasts, with increased investment, M&A activity and industry moves. Audiences grew too, but still lag behind in hype and expectation, and a portion of this growth has come at the direct expense of music streaming and radio.

Media consumption
Lockdown’s attention boom

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Mark Mulligan

February 2021

Consumer behaviour

Spotify

Spotify

2020 was a year like no other. With large swathes of the population confined to their homes for portions of the year, audiences had more time on their hands and more money in their pockets. These conditions created a boom in entertainment consumption, throwing up a mixture of intuitive trends and unexpected winners.

Podcasts Q2 2020
Spotify Takes an Early Lead

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Mark Mulligan

October 2020

US

UK

France

Podcasts have become the next battle front for audio. Spotify’s ambitious content and product strategy have enabled it to become an early leader, but the podcast market is still in its infancy, with adoption far lower than radio or streaming music. Podcasts have greater long-term market potential than music streaming but with many divergent objec...

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