A decade in the past, you could not have been in a position to title a single podcast (except it was Serial). Now, when you’re on social media or music streaming platforms, you are inundated with them. Due to their rising reputation, a survey from Edison Analysis’s Share of Ear discovered that for the primary time ever, extra Individuals aged 13 years or older take heed to podcasts (40%) than to AM/FM radio (39%) as of the tip of 2025.
Though there may be solely a 1% distinction, it is a historic quantity as a result of podcast listenership has by no means surpassed radio, and the hole between the 2 has grow to be more and more smaller over the previous decade. By comparability, in 2015, 75% of individuals listened to AM/FM radio, whereas a mere 10% mentioned they listened to podcasts.
As AM/FM radio listenership has trended downward, podcasts have trended upward, Edison Analysis discovered.
“Spoken-word audio has modified dramatically over the previous 10 years,” Edison Analysis says in an announcement in regards to the survey. “Customers now hear utilizing completely different platforms, units and providers to have interaction with spoken-word audio.”
In recent times, podcasts have additionally grow to be more and more influential. In 2024, throughout Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign, Joe Rogan — whose podcast The Joe Rogan Expertise typically ranks as some of the listened-to podcasts in the US — endorsed Trump the evening earlier than the election. A post-election Harvard CAPS / Harris Ballot (PDF) of 1,732 registered voters discovered that 37% of individuals mentioned Rogan’s endorsement had important or some influence on their vote, whereas 40% mentioned they had been conscious of Rogan’s endorsement after they went to the polls.
