iHeart Dominates December 2024 Podcast Rankings with 62.7M Weekly Downloads
Video Podcasting Revolution: YouTube Leads as Top Platform in 2024 | CoHost Analysis
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In today’s podwires:
🔥 Business Podcast Listeners Lead in Income and Education, New Study Reveals
🚨 Podcast Insight: New Research Shows Radio Advertising Boosts Brand Awareness by 16% Among Heavy Listeners
🏆 Podcast News : iHeart Dominates December 2024 Podcast Rankings with 62.7M Weekly Downloads
🔥 Business Podcast Listeners Lead in Income and Education, New Study Reveals
A new study from Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill Insights found that 70% of business podcast listeners are male, listening to podcast content for 7.2 hours every week. These high-income, highly educated listeners love self-improvement, with a focus on health, fitness, and education-based content. They are a coveted audience for both brands and content creators. Conducted in June 2024, this research surveyed 5,071 Americans aged 18 years and above. This survey included 389 people who said they were business podcast consumers. This study represents the largest public analysis of podcast consumption in America.
Key Points:
Business podcast consumers are mostly male, 70% with higher education levels: 75% have some college education, and 47% have a four-year degree or higher.
The average household income of business podcast listeners was $88,728 per year, compared to a national average income of almost $20,000 less.
78% of the business podcast consumers listened to podcasts every week. They would listen to an average of 7.2 hours of podcast content per week, as opposed to 6 hours for the general podcast listener.
38% of business podcast consumption is in the form of video podcasts, which is slightly higher compared to the average podcast consumer at 35%.
Brand engagement stands particularly high among business podcast consumers, with 69% likely to consume a podcast about a favorite brand or product, as compared to general podcast consumers at 43%.
Why It Matters:
This study dramatically shows the media consumption habits, underlining that business podcasts indeed are a burgeoning powerful platform, reaching educated high-income professionals, hungry for knowledge and self-improvement. It points to strong engagement, along with openness to brand content and increasing value by business podcasts in service for both content creators and advertisers alike intent on reaching decision-makers and influential consumers.
The Big Picture:
This data presents a number of compelling opportunities for podcasters, podcast producers, and the industry at large. Strong weekly consumption and robust brand affinity suggest that business podcast content should be able to command premium advertising rates. Producers can play off the audience's interest in self-improvement and technology by creating cross-genre content that resonates with this valuable demographic. The industry can then use such insights for better monetization strategies, more so considering that the audience's income is above average and with a favorable reaction to brand engagement.
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🎙️New Research Shows Radio Advertising Boosts Brand Awareness by 16% Among Heavy Listeners
One study shows that a two-month AM/FM radio campaign in 20+ markets increases brand recognition. It can reach 75% of the local audiences, with as few as seven instances per month, promoting a 10% lift in brand awareness and as high as a 12% increase in actual purchases.
Conducted by MARU/Matchbox and Claritas in Spring 2024, the study tracked the performance of the brand and was able to assess its effect. Below is a research document published by Pierre Bouvard, highlighting how classic radio fits into the modern marketing mix.
The Key points:
The campaign ran a total of about 500 monthly Gross Rating Points via a two-week burst/two-week dark pattern.
Total unaided brand awareness increased by 10%, while the heavy radio listeners saw it go up 16%.
Website conversions experienced an 8.7% lift in month one and surge to 13.6% in month two.
Long-term effects of the campaign continued to show a 6.2% lift in conversions even after the advertising had stopped.
This study confirmed a theory by Les Binet and Peter Field stating that advertising lays down memories to create sales overtime through brand recall and loyalty.
Why It Matters:
This is the first-ever proof that traditional AM/FM radio is a powerful tool for both brand building and sales generation in our digital age. It runs counter to the prevailing view that digital-only campaigns are the most effective path to marketing success by demonstrating how broad reach media can create lasting brand memories that drive both immediate and long-term sales conversion.
The Big Picture:
The following research makes a strong case for marketers and advertisers to consider AM/FM radio as an integral part of any holistic marketing campaign. With the findings on sustained post-campaign effects and the relationship of brand awareness to conversion efficiency, reaching as high as 2.86X for high-awareness brands, radio can be instrumental in laying the foundation for successful performance marketing campaigns.
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🎧 YouTube Dominates Election Discussions Among Podcast Listeners, New Study Reveals
Edison Podcast Metrics™ conducted a study in which the podcast listeners for election discussions came out leading with 54% of the share. That is quite an evolution in consumption and engagement from the way political content used to be ingested; today, podcasts fight for listeners just like traditional media such as local TV.
The Key Points:
YouTube leads all platforms at 54% of the nation's weekly podcast listeners for election-related content.
Facebook stays relevant, though, as the second choice for podcast listeners to discuss politics online.
Tied for third place, podcasts and local TV each reach 44% of podcast listeners.
TikTok burst onto the scene, joining Cable TV in election discussions.
The 2024 election is proving to be a game-changer, since many have labeled it the "Podcast Election" and the "YouTube Election."
Why It Matters:
This dynamic shift in podcast listeners' consumption of political content points to a more general change in how all media is consumed. For political campaigns and content creators, the move onto digital platforms means an adjustment to how they reach YouTube and Facebook but continuing to be on traditional media platforms.
Big Picture:
This means podcasting, as an industry, faces opportunities brought about by such findings, yet also challenges that these findings present for potential benefits and obstacles. In all, podcasters and producers have clear evidence that multi-platform distribution, especially on YouTube, is necessary for the highest level of reach.
Strong podcast strategies will need to include engaging visuals and cross-platform promotions as a result of this trend. This also means that, from a creation point of view, podcast creators have to produce election-specific content that is easily shareable across multiple platforms, especially YouTube, in order to capitalize on this growing audience interest in political conversations.
🎙️ PODCAST NEWS
⏭️NPR News Now Maintains #1 Spot in US Podcast Downloads for December 2024. Triton Digital's December 2024 U.S. Podcast Report shows iHeart dominated network rankings while NPR's shows topped individual podcast charts, with several new shows joining the rankings across different networks.
⏭️ Women Podcasters Awards Opens 2025 Sponsorship Applications After Record First Year. Following a successful first year with 400 nominees and 15,000 votes, the Women Podcasters Awards is now accepting applications from sponsors and media partners for its second annual people's choice awards celebrating women in podcasting.
⏭️ Audacy Launches Unified Audio Measurement Solution with Claritas Integration Audacy has partnered with Claritas to launch a unified measurement solution that allows advertisers to track and compare performance across radio, streaming, and podcast advertising using AI attribution models and web-based pixels.
📢 PODBUSINESS & MARKETING
⏭️ Audio Industry Leadership Course: From Production to People Management in 2025 Experienced audio producer Mia Lobel leads a three-session virtual course teaching mid to senior-level producers and editors how to effectively manage teams and navigate interpersonal dynamics in audio production.
⏭️ FIFA+ Selects Magnite as Global Programmatic Advertising Partner. FIFA+ has chosen Magnite, the world's largest independent sell-side advertising company, to manage programmatic video and display advertising across all devices and regions for their free football streaming platform.
⏭️ 6 Proven Podcast Marketing Strategies for Audience Growth in 2025. The article outlines six key podcast marketing strategies for 2025, including cross-promotions, short-form content creation, email marketing, trend monitoring, discovery platform optimization, and podcast roundup pitching, with emphasis on audience growth and engagement.
🎧 FROM THE COMMUNITY
⏭️ Viral YouTube Stars Launch History Podcast 'Fin vs History' with Comedic Twist. Comedians Fin Taylor and Horatio Gould, known for their viral YouTube series "Fin vs The Internet," are launching a twice-weekly comedy history podcast that offers unconventional interpretations of major historical events.
⏭️ PAVE Studios Launches 'Mantra' Podcast with Gen Z Self-Help Star Jemma Sbeg Australian podcaster Jemma Sbeg, known for her Top 20 Spotify podcast "The Psychology of Your 20s," launches a new weekly self-help series called "Mantra" that offers listeners practical mantras for personal growth and transformation.
⏭️ After Hours Skin Clinic' Podcast Brings Medical Expertise to Beauty Advice. Leading dermatologist Dr. Emma Craythorne debuts "After Hours Skin Clinic," a twice-weekly podcast delivering science-based skincare advice with co-host Dr. Ellie Rashid.
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