Click here to view or download the full deck from Edison Research.

Click here to view or download a PDF of the slides.

Click here to view an 11-minute video of the key takeaways.

Last week, Edison Research released their annual Infinite Dial study. When Edison Research started the Infinite Dial Study in 1998, the goal was to understand how Americans use emerging forms of audio and new media.

In the first 1998 study, a tiny number of consumers had ever tried audio streaming over a dial-up connection. 26 years later, the Infinite Dial is the longest-running study of consumer digital audio use.  

The results of Edison Research’s 2024 Infinite Dial study contain some compelling insights for marketers and media agencies: 

Takeaways for marketers:

• No longer is podcasting a niche platform lacking scale: Podcasting deserves a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 135 million Americans, 47% of persons 12+, are reached monthly. Among demographics such as persons 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, monthly reach is in the low 60% range.
• It is feasible to consider shifting TV budgets to podcasting given that podcast 18-34 reach performance is as big as TV.
• Brands targeting women should give podcasts a starring role in media plans: Female podcast audiences have hit record highs in habituation and reach.
• Adopt agency media legend Arnie Semsky’s “5% solution” to podcasts: Allocate 5% of digital ad budgets to podcasts.

Among 18-34s, podcast reach is now as big as TV

It wasn’t that long ago that marketers dismissed podcasts for lacking scale. No longer.

Among 18-34s, podcast weekly reach (48%) from Edison’s 2024 Infinite Dial is nearly as large as TV (50%). The big player in 18-34 weekly reach is AM/FM radio at 77%. (The AM/FM radio and TV data is sourced from Nielsen Comparable Metrics for Q3 2023.)

Podcast 18-49 weekly reach is 80% of linear TV

46% of U.S. 18-49s are reached by podcasts weekly, according to the recently released Edison 2024 Infinite Dial. Nielsen’s Comparable Metrics reports live and time-shifted TV reaches 58% of 18-49s weekly versus AM/FM radio’s impressive 81%.

Podcast female audience growth has been explosive

From 2020 to 2023, female monthly podcast reach remained in the mid to upper 30% range. This year, female monthly podcast reach surged +15% from 39% in 2023 to 45% this year.

Female podcast audiences surge to nearly equal men

The gap between men and women monthly podcast reach has narrowed considerably. Female monthly podcast reach (45%) is now very similar to men (48%).

Female podcast habituation hits an all-time high

The ratio of monthly audiences who also listen weekly is an excellent measure of podcast habituation. At present, 71% of the monthly female podcast audience also listen weekly. This is the strongest female podcast habituation in the last decade.

The one podcast slide every marketer should have

The Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® has summarized the most crucial data on the 12+ U.S. podcast audiences into one slide to reveal the overall long-term trends in podcast audiences. 

The growth in podcast awareness and listenership over the last eight years has been breathtaking: 

• 84% 12+ Americans are familiar with the term podcasting, up from 60% in 2017.  

• 67% of Americans have ever listened to a podcast, a +68% increase since 2017 (40%). 
• 47% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month, a 2X increase versus 2017 (24%). 
• The weekly podcast audience (34%) has more than doubled from 15% in 2017. 
• Podcast habituation is at the high end of historical performance.  72% of the monthly podcast audience has also listened in the past week, a +14% increase from 2017.

From 2019 to 2022, monthly to weekly conversion was in the high 60% range. In 2023, podcast habituation soared to 74%. The current 72% habituation index is one of the strongest in the history of podcasting. Americans are increasingly getting into the podcast habit.  

Podcast reach now has scale: Monthly reach in the low 60s and weekly reach in the mid/upper 40s

The chart below will provide media planners with a handy guide to weekly and monthly podcast reach among major buying demographics from the just released Infinite Dial from Edison.

“The 5% solution”: It is time for brands to get serious and allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting

Arnie Semsky, legendary BBDO media chief, who created “the 5% solution.” At the dawn of network cable, he recommended brands devote 5% of media budgets to cable in order to generate meaningful impact. 

Podcasting is America’s fastest growing audio platform. Ad-supported music streaming audiences for Spotify and Pandora peaked in 2016. All of the growth in audio is now coming from podcasting.

Despite this soaring audience growth, podcasts only represent 1% of total national ad spend, per Guideline’s Standard Media Index reporting.

At the dawn of cable TV, legendary BBDO media chief Arnie Semsky created the “5% solution,” which stipulated that brands devote 5% of media budgets to cable. 5% is enough of allocation to generate meaningful impact.

Semsky was prescient. His brands hugely benefited from taking an early, bold, and strong position in a growing new medium, a lesson for the marketers of today when it comes to podcasts.

Takeaways for marketers:

The results of Edison Research’s 2024 Infinite Dial study contain some compelling insights for marketers and media agencies: 

• No longer is podcasting a niche platform lacking scale: Podcasting deserves a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 135 million Americans, 47% of persons 12+, are reached monthly. Among demographics such as persons 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, monthly reach is in the low 60% range.
• It is feasible to consider shifting TV budgets to podcasting given that podcast 18-34 reach performance is as big as TV.
• Brands targeting women should give podcasts a starring role in media plans: Female podcast audiences have hit record highs in habituation and reach.
• Adopt agency media legend Arnie Semsky’s “5% solution” to podcasts: Allocate 5% of digital ad budgets to podcasts.

Click here to view or download the full deck from Edison Research.

Click here to view an 11-minute video of the key takeaways.

Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.