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Growth in Internet Radio and Podcast Audiences
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 at 7:46 PM by Jason Barker
Edison Media Research has released several studies over the last two months that demonstrate the growing use – and therefore the potential for widespread outreach – of Internet radio and podcasts.
According to Edison's 2008 edition of the annual Infinite Dial: Radio's Digital Platforms, 33 million people aged 12 and above listen to Internet radio each week. This means that approximately 13 percent of Americans listen to Internet radio each week, and 21 percent (or 54 million) listen each month. This represents a 2 percent growth in total listenership from 2007.
The demographics are pretty evenly divided between men and women – 52 percent of listeners are male, while 48 percent are female – but there is currently a decided majority in listeners aged 25-44 (45 percent of all listeners). Listeners ages 12-24 make up 24 percent of all listeners, while listeners ages 45-64 make up 27 percent of listeners.
Not directly related to these demographics, but nonetheless interesting, is that "prime" listening time for Internet radio – by a wide margin – is 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, with an Arbitron AQM of 1,247,000 (the next closest, 3:00 – 7:00 PM, is only 670,600).
According to Edison, 23 million Americans – or 9 percent of the total population – download at least one podcast each month; 18 percent (or roughly 46 million) have downloaded at least one podcast at any time. These numbers are notably higher than when I wrote about this topic in December, 2006, when only 12 percent of the US population had ever downloaded a podcast; this means that the number of people who have downloaded a podcast has increased by roughly 50 percent over the last 16 months.
An extremely significant statistic is the amount of time spent consuming digital audio: podcast listeners spend an average of 90 minutes more per week listening to digital audio than do people who listen only to Internet radio. Edison notes:
While some of this may be due to increased interest in audio content in general, at least part of this increased listening is attributable to additional listening occassions (sic) and opportunities in settings where online audio was not previously consumed. The portability of podcasts has enabled new contexts and environments for listening to downloadable audio.
These numbers are quite positive for Orthodox Internet multimedia ministry. While the growth rate for Internet radio has been somewhat flat, it nonetheless is growing, and is reaching a significant number of people. It also is doing so at a time when their media choices are limited; since a sizeable percentage of Internet radio listeners are listening while at work, Orthodox Internet radio has the important opportunity to minister to people in a venue where they otherwise would have little or no access to other Orthodox materials.
Total listenership of podcasts, while currently significantly lower than that of Internet radio, is growing at a much faster rate, meaning that – at least in the next few years – there should be a continually growing "market" for Orthodox Christian podcasts. Furthermore, podcast listeners are among the more dedicated consumers of digital audio; the growth in podcast listeners demonstrates that there is a growing audience for in-depth Orthodox audio teaching.
Edited on: Monday, May 05, 2008 11:08 PMPosted in Miscellaneous