With podcasters competing for their share of the audio space in an increasingly crowded landscape (there are now 700,000 podcasts available worldwide), findings from the Canadian Podcast Listener Survey 2018, indicate that sharing is key.
The survey, from Audience Insights Inc. and Ulster Media with support from TPX, found nearly two-thirds (65%) of monthly podcast listeners say they have shared podcasts they listen to with others at some point in the last six months.
Almost half of those (46%) shared a podcast (46%) by word-of-mouth and nearly a quarter (23%) of monthly listeners said they had shared a podcast in the past six months via social media, rising to 29% among 18-34 year olds.
Nearly one-in-five (18%) podcast listeners shared content directly via email or text, rising to 29% among “power listeners” – those who listen to at least five hours of podcasts per week.
“Through which of the following ways do you typically discover the podcasts you listen to?”*
All podcast listeners |
18-34 year-olds |
Power listeners (listen to 5+ hrs of podcasts/week) |
|
From friends/ family members |
38% |
43% |
41% |
From charts or listings on iTunes |
15% |
18% |
22% |
From podcast apps/ websites other than iTunes |
20% |
20% |
29% |
Hear about them on the radio |
19% |
12% |
19% |
See them on social media |
36% |
42% |
35% |
Read about them in a newspaper or magazine |
7% |
6% |
8% |
Read about them on a website |
35% |
32% |
36% |
From other podcasts |
30% |
29% |
49% |
*The Canadian Podcast Listener Survey 2018
How can podcasters capitalize on these findings?
Jeff Ulster of Ulster Media says making content easy to consume and share is key.
“When you share podcast content online, you’re competing for attention with every other text, email and social media post out there. If you want to increase your odds of becoming part of the online conversation, offer shareable content in a format that’s native to the platform you’re using to distribute your content,” said Ulster.
The Canadian Podcast Listener Survey is based on a representative sample of 3,000+ Canadian adults and 1,500+ monthly podcast listeners from online access panel Maru Voice Canada.
Initial findings from the Canadian Podcast Listener Survey 2019 will be released this summer.
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