Podcast listening has risen mightily in the past few years. The latest iteration of the Infinite Dial from Edison Research shows 100 million Americans are weekly podcast listeners, and the company’s President — Larry Rosin — doesn’t believe it has started to plateau yet.
While discussing the recent results of the Infinite Dial study, Rosin shared his belief that the milestone for podcast listening was a momentous one that isn’t likely to go away anytime soon.
“This is such an important milestone that speaks to how podcasting has become a mainstream channel for so many people in terms of information, entertainment, and companionship,” Rosin said during a Webinar alongside Audacy Head of Research & Insights Idil Cakim.
“I’d be surprised if we’re at the peak of what this is going to be since new people seem to continue to discover it every day. I think there’s a good shot that this number will be fully within the nine-figure range come next year.”
Recent results from the study also show that female podcast listening has risen dramatically, nearly catching the usage rate of men. The data also now shows that women listen to more episodes on average than men do.
“The male number went up a little bit, and the female number went up a lot. And so while there’s still a gap, it’s now a very tight gap,” Larry Rosin revealed. “And among that group of women, they tell us that they listen to more podcast episodes on average each week than men.
“So in total, the number of episodes is actually a little higher for women than for men, even though the base of numbers is a little bit higher for men than for women.”
While the 2024 results of the study show 48% of men 18+ are monthly podcast listeners, 45% of women in the same demographic responded similarly. That’s a jump of 6% compared to 2023, with Rosin positing the numbers have a “decent likelihood” of being equal in 2025 or 2026.
