October 27, 2015 How Many Podcasts Are There In 2015? The State of the Podcast Podcast Share this post: Updated April 2020: The new 2020 State of Podcasting is out now. There seems to be a lot of evidence that the podcast* (digital audio file that you can download and listen on your preferred device) is booming. Yet, no one is really sure how many podcasts are there currently circulating in the world. Having been a podcaster myself since 2010, I have seen how the field has ebbed and flowed among my own listeners. As much as podcasting is, by nature, digital, it remains one of the murkiest zones in terms of bona fide data. Itunes is the largest repository of podcasts, but it remains opaque in terms of data. Podcast by the Numbers How many total active podcasts exist? My best guess is around 180,000. Wikipedia writes (no source) that there are now more than 115,000 English-language podcasts (which was exactly the number I used back in 2012). In my post, The Future of Podcasting, written in 2012, the numbers seemed to point to a total worldwide of 150,000. Considering the boom in podcasting, a 6-8% growth rate for the number of published podcasts per year would seem feasible. This fine article by Glenn Leibowitz on Linkedin expresses just why the golden era of podcasting may yet be ahead of us. As analyzed by Clammr, if you listen to Google, the number of searches for podcasts is back on the up, aided in no small part by Serial: Active versus Inactive According to a MacWorld article, Apple announced that podcast subscriptions surpassed 1 billion in 2013 across 250,000 unique podcasts in over 100 languages. If you take that number verbatim, that would mean that there are on average 4 subscribers per podcast show. Rather meagre. The key difference between the 250K number Apple announced and the 180,000 I use above is the number of active podcasts (i.e. where shows are still being published). Meanwhile, according to this Washington Post article, the number of unique monthly podcast listeners rose to 75 million per month (in 2013) from 25MM five years earlier. The most popular podcasts… Using Itunes, there are a few sites that have scraped together some data. For example, Itunes Charts brings out the most popular podcasts by country. Podbay extracts the top ranking podcasts by category. Stitcher has its own listing (with a slightly different set of categories), identifying top movers and shared shows. The American Podcast Market The Pew Research Center released its fact sheet on podcasting in April 2015. Using Edison Research, it shows how the number of American listeners has been steadily on the increase, albeit we are still talking just 17% of Americans over the age of 12 have listened to a podcast in the prior month. Meanwhile, a 2015 state of the American podcast by radio network Westwood One provided some insights into the listeners. The study found that “Podcast listeners’ median age is 30, versus 45 for AM/FM radio and 57 for broadcast television networks.”{via Adage} On balance, however, it must be said that the available overall podcast numbers and details are quite vague and vary rampantly. The State of the Podcast is, at least anecdotally buoyant. The future of the podcast? Well, that will depend on several things, including quality content that appeals to the audience, a distribution system that is reliable and agreeable and making sure that podcasters find a viable and sustainable economic model. In a post I wrote in 2012 about the future of podcasting, and was quite optimistic. It seems that my optimism was well suited. The number of podcast shows has blossomed as have the hosting (Libsyn, Buzzsprout, Spreaker, Mixlr …) and streaming / distribution options (Audible, Clammr, Stitcher [now owned by Deezer], Soundcloud…). The famous Serial series brought podcast to mass media levels around world. Attending the Global Editors’ Network event in Barcelona this year, I was happy to meet Dana Chivvis, the producer of Serial, whose first season has had more than 97 million downloads. Serial has now been optioned for a 12-part TV series. A second season of Serial is due out shortly, and will be about the Bowie Bergdahl case. However, we may well soon be reaching a plateau. Seth Godin wrote a post just this week about how there would be an upcoming glut. As Seth points out, there are some technical challenges to gaining and keeping an audience. First, it is extremely laborious to share a podcast you liked. Secondly, the search and discovery of individual podcasts is not at all easy. That said, the space for great audio content is definitely there. I think that, just like every different type of media, none is perfect, each serves a purpose and each can service a different type of need. There is bound to be some kind of consolidation between all these new startups that have surfaced around podcasting, which will surely shake up the amateurs from the professionals. I am sure that, in the future given the growth, an agency like Nielsen will be able to provide us with greater clarity on the podcast market around the world. [Addendum Nov 12, 2015] For discovery purposes, Jay Baer started a really great tool to find podcasts for marketers: MARKETING PODCASTS. [Addendum Feb 16 2020: no longer in operation] Glad to have your perspectives and/or questions! ————— *I still like to translate the term “podcast” as a downloadable audio or radio program. Some have coined the term Audioblogging or even (in the Guardian last year), GuerillaMedia. I will stick to podcasting as I believe it will stick for the near-term, despite its techy sound. NEWSletter Subscribe to Minter’s Bi-Weekly NEWSletter and receive a free copy of the exclusive and updated 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation Your Gift For Signing Up 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed! dana chivvis, future of podcasting, podbay, Podcast, podcasting, serial, Seth Godin, state of the podcast, stitcher, westwood one Minter Dial Minter Dial is an international professional speaker, author & consultant on Leadership, Branding and Digital Strategy. After a successful international career at L’Oréal, Minter Dial returned to his entrepreneurial roots and has spent the last ten years helping senior management teams and Boards to adapt to the new exigencies of the digitally enhanced marketplace. He has worked with world-class organisations to help activate their brand strategies, and figure out how best to integrate new technologies, digital tools, devices and platforms. Above all, Minter works to catalyse a change in mindset and dial up transformation. Minter received his BA in Trilingual Literature from Yale University (1987) and gained his MBA at INSEAD, Fontainebleau (1993). His newest book Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, bowed in December 2018 and won the Book Excellence Award 2019 as well as being shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2019. It's available in Audiobook, Kindle and Paperback. He is also co-author of Futureproof (Pearson, Sep 2017) and sole author of The Last Ring Home (Myndset Press, Nov 2016), a book and documentary film, both of which have won awards and critical acclaim. Minter has a new book on leadership, You Lead, How being yourself makes you a better leader, published by Kogan Page, that released January 2021. It's easy to inquire about booking Minter Dial here. View all posts by Minter Dial Previous post Next post
21st Century Gifts from the Universe - the Yachtless November 24, 2015 at 11:00 am […] with perhaps 180,000 unique English-language podcasts out there, how can anyone know where to start? Never fear: it’s […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts -RocketNews December 18, 2015 at 12:35 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts -RocketNews December 18, 2015 at 12:35 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
Engadget Today » If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts December 18, 2015 at 1:22 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts | BTS December 18, 2015 at 1:24 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts | Wisdom Parliament December 18, 2015 at 2:20 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts | TechNewsDB December 18, 2015 at 5:40 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts | World Updates December 18, 2015 at 6:07 pm […] lists 16 categories of podcasts, and though no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
Global Audiobook Trends and Statistics for 2016 December 18, 2015 at 7:28 pm […] emerging content. One of the pitfalls is that no one’s measuring exactly how many exist, most estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are currently […]
If Podcasts Are the New Blogs, Enjoy the Golden Age While It Lasts | Big Footy News December 19, 2015 at 7:07 am […] 16 categories of podcasts, and nonetheless no one’s measuring accurately how many exist, many estimates suggest somewhere around 180,000 are now […]
6 Hollywood Podcasts to Get You Through the Winter December 29, 2015 at 4:40 pm […] podcast quietly became one of the world’s foremost mediums over the last year. Estimates tell us that there are somewhere around 180,000 active podcasts on the air, while Apple reported over […]
The Podcast Gold Rush | foreigndaze February 1, 2016 at 10:05 pm […] cites an estimate of 180,000 active podcasts, suggesting that many of them are like the prospectors of the Wild West […]
The Startup's Guide to Podcasting | Autopilot Blog February 12, 2016 at 4:01 pm […] the next 60 seconds, over 300 hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube but it’s estimated that there are only 180,000 active English language podcasts. It’s far easier to make a […]
How to Start a Business Podcast | PodAbility™ Podcast Workshop March 7, 2016 at 1:37 am […] 1 “Podcasting Fact Sheet” – JOURNALISM.ORG 2 “How Many Podcasts Are There” – MYNDSET.COM […]
Podcasting in Public Media: Can On-Demand Audio Content Help Community Radio? – NFCB March 23, 2016 at 5:19 pm […] we know that there are about 250,000 podcasts currently listed on Apple iTunes, mostly distributed in the English language. Altogether, […]
Podcasting in 2016 - What You Need to Know | We Edit Podcasts April 20, 2016 at 5:39 am […] Referrences: Journalism.org myndset.com […]
Trends in Podcasting, and What Podcasts Should Be on Your Radar? | News for Authors May 9, 2016 at 12:26 pm […] episodes of the top-ranked podcasts may be downloaded more than a million times each. There are hundreds of thousands of active podcasts out there. And podcast listening has increased by 24 percent in the last […]
How To Learn Something New Every Day (And Actually Do Something With It) - Productivityist May 12, 2016 at 10:08 am […] Maybe the number one biggest trends of the last decade. As of 2015, there are over 150,000 active podcasts, so the choice really is vast. You can find a podcast on any topic, be it knitting, starting a […]
Revving Up PodcastMotor: Growing a Productized Service with Quality Content July 7, 2016 at 6:00 am […] weeks on the top page on all of iTunes (that’s pretty damn impressive, considering there are over 180,000 active podcasts out […]
Six Lessons Learned From Podcast Movement 2016 | Prichard Communications August 8, 2016 at 6:19 pm […] need your own show to reach listeners, says Jessica Rhodes, host of Rhodes to Success. Many of the estimated 180,000 active programs on iTunes need guest experts. You can increase the odds of getting a spot, says Rhodes, with a one-page […]
De ce podcasturile devin tot mai populare? – Stiri Non Stop August 27, 2016 at 10:48 am […] estimează că în prezent există în jur de 180 000 de podcasturi care acoperă subiecte diverse: știință, sport, film, antreprenoriat, design, literatură, […]
Brendan at PhotoMBA October 18, 2016 at 2:55 am This was super helpful. Thanks for taking the time to do the research 🙂
mY powerpoInt PresentaTIon – theanchor2016 October 18, 2016 at 7:46 am […] http://www.myndset.com/2015/10/how-many-podcasts-are-there/ [accessed: 16 October 2016] […]
Podcasting: A Viable Marketing Solution for Your Company - Podcast Pilot January 6, 2017 at 1:14 am […] more than 100,000 active podcasts, there still isn’t a lot of competition in the field especially when you consider your target […]
5 Podcasts to add to your morning routine – Mimosas & Mascara January 10, 2017 at 2:11 am […] more than 250,000 different podcasts to chose from in 2015, and I can only imagine that number has increased now, I knew I would be in […]
Photographs Of The Top 10 Moments In Podcasting History January 17, 2017 at 2:57 pm […] Ever since podcasting first started catching hold in late 2004, the industry has been booming. In 2013 it was estimated that the number of subscribed listeners passed over 1 billion and there were over 250,000 unique podcasts out there for us to listen to and it has grown since. […]
Not Just Another Podcast – Monastic Inkwell February 18, 2017 at 3:26 pm […] it’s inception in 2003. So why do we need another one? In 2015 it was estimated that between 180,000 and 206,000 podcasts had been created and those numbers have only grown since. Again, why do we […]
How to Add Value to Your Podcast Listeners - Podcast Pilot April 13, 2017 at 3:36 pm […] Many podcasters run their shows only to find themselves failing after 5 or so episodes. With hundreds of thousands of podcasts around the world, only a number are still active. It’s easy to start but difficult to […]
Start Your Day by Tuning-In to these Podcasts - Nonprofit Expert June 20, 2017 at 3:44 pm […] 2015, there were more than 250,000 different podcasts to choose from, meaning virtually something for everyone and everything—but where do you […]
7 Must-Listen Podcasts for Entrepreneurs at Every Stage | AppointmentPlus December 26, 2017 at 6:48 pm […] industry news and inherently mobile work style, are embracing podcasts with gusto. But with an estimated 150,000 episodes in the Podcastverse, where does the savvy entrepreneur get her fix? Read on for our pick […]
Podcasts – Aly Rosenberg April 16, 2018 at 12:20 pm […] to a MacWorld article, Apple announced that podcast subscriptions surpassed 1 billion in 2013 across 250,000 unique […]
Increase Customers without Spending a Dime - The Guerrilla Agency August 8, 2019 at 4:55 am […] are over a billion podcasts on the web. The chances are good a few are dedicated to your industry, no matter what that industry […]
How many Podcasts are there? The State of the Podcast 2018 | | Minter Dial February 20, 2020 at 5:31 pm […] consumption has continued to grow steadily since my last ‘State of the Podcast 2015’ on this blog. One can safely say that the word “podcast” is now well and truly anchored in our […]
The State of Podcasting 2020 | | Minter Dial March 11, 2020 at 11:04 am […] wrote my first State of Podcasting update in 2012, a second in 2015 and a third in 2018 (aided by Nicolas Robson). I’m happy now to bring you the latest State of […]