MediaTalk | Season 4 | Ep. 26 - What’s Driving Podcasting's Future Audience and Advertising Growth

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Mike Reynolds: Hi, I'm Mike Reynolds, a senior reporter covering the media industry with the S&P Global Market Intelligence Tech, Media and Telecom news team. Welcome to "MediaTalk," a podcast hosted by S&P Global Market Intelligence, where the news and research staff explore issues in the ever-changing media landscape. Today we're going to talk about podcasting, a media form on the rise with listeners and viewers and advertisers alike. Not to mention one that's close to all of our hearts here at "MediaTalk." Joining us today are a pair of Kagan-ites. Peter Leisinger is a Kagan research analyst who keeps a close watch on broadcasting and other media realms. Peter, how goes it?

Peter Leitzinger: I'm honored to do a podcast on podcasting here today.

Reynolds: All right. Also with us is Kagan research analyst, Jessica Cahill, who's making her "MediaTalk" debut. Jessica uses survey data collected across the US, Europe, and Asia to uncover trends and craft research-driven articles. How are you doing, Jessica? Thanks for being with us.

Jessica Cahill: I'm doing well. Excited to be here, so thanks for having me.

Reynolds: All right. Let's start with the big picture, and it's one that's getting larger. Peter, can you give us a sense for how many folks in the US are listening to podcasts?

Leitzinger: Yeah, so for those metrics, we lean on the Edison Research Infinite Dial reports in addition to our internal survey data, which Jessica will dive into. But the Edison Research reports have been providing research on streaming audio for around 30 years, and the 2026 report showed monthly podcast listeners increasing 6% year over year to 167 million listeners. And the percentage of the US population aged 12 and up that has listened to a podcast in the last month increased to 58% of the entire US. So those increases have largely been attributed to a jump in monthly audio listening from those aged 55 and up, and that group has gone from 52% listening to streaming audio in 2024 to 70% in 2026. So an older demographic has really been adopting podcasting recently, and I also believe that music services have made significant investments in podcasting that are maturing, and their platforms are really highlighting podcasts to listeners, making it easier to discover podcasts of interest.

Reynolds: Okay. Jessica, those numbers are in keeping with what Kagan's consumer insights are finding?

Cahill: Yeah, it does line up with what we saw in the Spring Consumer Insights survey conducted this spring. There was a 10 percentage point increase compared to the 2025 survey, but we saw the most growth among a younger audience,

Reynolds: So that's a 25 to 34 set?

Cahill: It just under 55

Reynolds: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Jessica, can you dig in a little bit to what consumer insights found relative to genders and the demos that are, uh, engaging in this platform?

Cahill: Yeah, sure. So when you look at the overall survey population, podcast listeners mirror the broader group pretty closely in terms of gender, education, income. But where things really start to diverge is age. That's definitely the biggest differentiator. Again, we saw a much stronger adoption among younger audiences compared with the older groups. And then going one layer deeper, gender is definitely the most revealing demographic in terms of content selection. So you'll see, more women tend to gravitate towards true crime, and men towards sports content.

Reynolds: Okay. All right. Peter, video podcasting is something that's on the rise as well, right?

Leitzinger: Yeah. Video podcasts, or essentially simulcasts of audio-only podcasts in video format, are growing, and they're leveraging the services that use video, like YouTube and Spotify and even social media to increase their reach and viewers. An important of aspect of that is that video podcasts attract different advertisers who value video or even both audio and video. The influence of video podcasts help to drive discoverability and interest regardless of format. Someone who sees a podcast video on YouTube or social media channels is likely to seek out a podcast on the audio format.

Reynolds: Yeah. Makes total sense. It's an ad or a promo of sorts.

Leitzinger: Absolutely.

Reynolds: All right. Jessica, what's Consumer Insight's take, or I should say view, of video podcasting?

Cahill: Yeah, so this was the first time we actually specifically asked about video podcasts in any survey ever conducted. So we don't have any year over year comparisons just yet. But even with that, it's clear this format is gaining traction. We'd expect to see the growth continue as it becomes more of its own distinct category. But this current hybrid model definitely appeals to newer creators. Again they're looking for something to become more discoverable. And then that added layer of engagement beyond just audio.

Reynolds: And these are appearing on YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, at all?

Cahill: Yes.

Reynolds: Okay. Jessica, you had mentioned a couple. You'd mentioned true crime with the ladies, sports with the guys. Mm-hmm. What are some of the other more popular genres here in the podcasting realm?

Cahill: Yeah. So the top four most popular that we saw in this survey were news and politics, followed by comedy, sports, and then true crime. Again, what's interesting is how they break down across different audiences. Comedy skews younger. News and politics skews to an older audience, while true crime has a very strong female audience. And again, sports leans more male. And so it just really highlights how segmented podcasting content has become.

Reynolds: There's some others though too, right? Again, religion is in the mix here, and business as well?

Cahill: Yeah, we got health and wellness space. And we didn't see a lot of things skewing, except for entrepreneurship, again, was male. Yeah, health and wellness unsurprisingly leans a little bit more female. Religion is usually at the bottom of the popularity list here as well as fiction. I believe fiction was the only one that saw a 50/50 split, male to female. Yeah. Okay. But it was also dead last in rankings.

Reynolds: Okay. All right. Peter, may have already mentioned a few of these, but there's a hierarchy in terms of the podcasting platforms?

Leitzinger: Yeah, YouTube is the most used service for podcasts when we look at what Edison Research measures, with 39% of those aged 13 and up using YouTube. However, I think when you look at podcasting in the traditional form where it's long-form audio streams, not videos, Spotify is the clear leader at 20% of the population aged 13 up, and just behind them is Apple Music at 11%. And then once you get past the top three, there's a large number of services that are still growing that could make the leap up the rankings.

Reynolds: Okay. Jessica, is that what Consumer Insights find? A similar scorecard there?

Cahill: It's similar. Spotify took the lead in our particular survey and it actually increased its share year over year up to 45% of listeners in 2026, stating that they listened through Spotify. But YouTube and Amazon are also major players. And then Apple Podcasts remains steady in that 23%. So overall, it's competitive, but the top platforms are clearly capturing listener habits.

Reynolds: Okay. And just for those who don't know, "MediaTalk" is available on both Spotify, Apple, and our own CAPbyQ website.

Anyway, Peter, let's get to the reason here. Let's get to the money. 2026 is a big year for podcasting ad growth.

Leitzinger: Yeah, our ad projections take into account a lot of the major services such as Amazon, Pandora, Apple Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and some of the others. We're seeing a lot of the major services capitalize on podcast advertising, whether that is spoken word with the podcast within the podcast or utilizing ad insertion. Advertisers are really wanting to target the highly loyal listeners that podcasts attract. Our projections don't take into account the video podcast segment, or subscription revenue download fees, or any terrestrial radio station websites or simulcasts.

Reynolds: So the number is probably a lot greater, but what is Kagan's estimate for ad revenue here th- for 2026?

Leitzinger: So in 2026, we project podcasting to grow 24% year over year to 1.4 billion in ad revenue.

Reynolds: Okay.

Leitzinger: That's a hefty growth number, but there's a wave of factors that support that. And we're moving forward. We still see very steady growth even though that rate of growth is expected to slow down.

Reynolds: You guys got to forecast out for a few years, and again, slowing down, but s- we're still in a growth mode here.

Leitzinger: Yes, absolutely. Looking forward, we see podcasts' ad revenue growing to over 2.5 billion annually by 2031, eventually rising to over 3 billion annually just a few years after that.

Reynolds: Really? Okay.

Leitzinger: Yeah.

Reynolds: Wow. All right. Jessica, can you give us a sense, Peter just alluded to it again, different advertising brands want to associate with different kinds of podcasts. I guess it's people listen a lot or watch a lot, frequency is a key here.

Cahill: Yeah. What stood out to me, at least in the survey, was how engaged podcast listeners are. So 67% of the listeners are tuning in at least weekly, and within that group more than half are actually listening several times a week, if not daily. So only a small portion are just once a week listeners. And it makes sense. It's such an easy format to fit into your day. You can throw on a podcast while you're doing just normal things like walking- the dog, folding the laundry, mowing the lawn. I look forward to yard work now. Um- It's kind of like my built-in excuse to catch up on shows. No one's bothering me, I pop it in, I do yard work. No one wants to do it, so it's just me.

Reynolds: So multitasking and podcasting.

Cahill: Absolutely.

Reynolds: It's a good, it's a good thing. It's a good thing. Yes. All right. Peter going back to April now there was a report from Bloomberg that iHeartMedia was in a preliminary merger talks with SiriusXM Holdings. A lot of ears and eyes perked up. Peter, can you give us a sense to why, and has anything happened since then? Was that just dust in the wind, so to speak?

Leitzinger: It would create a massive audio brand between Sirius with its nine billion satellite empire and 33 million subscribers, and iHeartRadio's 860 terrestrial radio stations, and they have 250 million monthly listeners on their audio streams. The merger would likely help boost a lot of advertising synergies across both platforms. Both companies have invested heavily in podcast publishing and talent, and together they could offer greater scale. I think that it would create a very stable environment in terms of cash flow, and that would certainly help iHeartMedia giving them a boost. But I think it's a great time for iHeartMedia to get a deal done.

Reynolds: And I haven't really seen anything. It just kind of— It was there in April and, now we're two months later and, again, maybe still wishful thinking or, maybe people are hard at work and we're going to find out about it soon enough.

Leitzinger: I haven't heard a whole lot. Last I heard was that the talks between the two groups have stalled.

Reynolds: Okay. Yeah.

Leitzinger: But I know that the combined company. From an ownership standpoint, SiriusXM's major owner is Berkshire Hathaway, and chairman Greg Maffei is known for doing very smart deals. So I would say that this deal might take some time to get finalized.

Reynolds: Okay. Okay. All right, we'll see how that goes. We're getting to the end here. "MediaTalk" aside, Peter and Jessica, which I know you both listen to religiously, a weekly basis, what are some of the other podcasts you listen to? And any of them video, Jessica?

Cahill: For me, no. No, I'm a purist. No video podcasts for me just yet. But of course, MediaTalk, my number one.

Reynolds: There you go.

Cahill: I feel like I shouldn't even have to say it at this point.

Reynolds: There you go. That's what we thought.

Cahill: Yeah. But a close second for me would be Crime Junkie. What can I say? I'm a millennial, I love true crime. And it like, lines up perfectly with what we see in our survey data.

Reynolds: Okay. So you're exemplifying your findings?

Cahill: I am.

Reynolds: Okay. Peter, how about you?

Leitzinger: I fall right in line with the survey findings. So I'm a big fan of the Joe Rogan Podcast. Okay. And I'm a big NFL fan, so I like The Herd and Bussin' with the Boys, and I like to watch those on the video format as well.

Reynolds: So that concludes this episode of "MediaTalk." I wanted to thank our guest, Peter, and our first-time speaker here, Jess Cahill, for joining us, sharing their insights about podcasting and the business thereof. Thank you two for joining us very much.

Cahill: You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.

Leitzinger: Thanks for having me.

Reynolds: All right. And this is Mike Reynolds. I want to thank all of you for listening. There's been some talk about "MediaTalk" going video at some point. Now we'll see about that. In the meantime, we'll catch up soon on the next installment of "MediaTalk."