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

Click here to download a PDF of the slides.

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. 27 years later, the Infinite Dial is the longest-running study of consumer digital audio use.  

The results of Edison Research’s 2025 Infinite Dial study contain some compelling insights for marketers and media agencies: 

Takeaways for marketers:

• Podcasting is now a mass reach media vehicle. Podcasting is no longer a niche platform lacking scale. Podcasts deserve a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 158 million Americans, 55% of persons 12+, are reached monthly. Among persons 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, monthly reach is now 65% to 73%.
• It is feasible to consider shifting TV budgets to podcasting given that podcast 18-34 weekly reach (52%) is as big as TV’s (52%).
• Brands targeting women should give podcasts a starring role in media plans: Podcast female audiences have hit record highs in habituation and reach.
• Among male demographics, monthly reach is now in the low 70% range.
• Adopt agency media legend Arnie Semsky’s “5% solution” to podcasts: Allocate 5% of digital ad budgets to podcasts.

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 from the Infinite Dial.

In 2025, Edison Research expanded the definition of the podcast audience to include video.

The growth in podcast awareness and consumption over the last nine years has been breathtaking: 

• 85% 12+ Americans are familiar with the term podcasting, up from 60% in 2017.  

• 73% of Americans have ever consumed to a podcast, an +83% increase since 2017 (40%). 
• 55% of Americans have consumed to a podcast in the last month, a 2X+ increase versus 2017 (24%). 
• The weekly podcast audience (40%) has more than doubled from 15% in 2017. 
• Podcast habituation is at the high end of historical performance.  73% of the monthly podcast audience have also listened in the past week, a +16% increase from 2017.

Americans are increasingly getting into the podcast habit. From 2019 to 2022, monthly to weekly conversion was in the high 60% range. In 2023, podcast habituation soared to 74%. The current 73% habituation index is one of the strongest in the history of podcasting.

In 2025, ‘watching podcasts’ was added as a consumption option. 7% of the U.S. reports watching podcasts monthly but not listening.

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

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

Among 18-34s, podcast weekly reach (52%) from Edison’s 2025 Infinite Dial is as large as TV (52%). The big player in 18-34 weekly reach is AM/FM radio at 73%. (The AM/FM radio and TV data is sourced from Nielsen Comparable Metrics for Q3 2024.)

Podcast 18-49 weekly reach is 84% of linear TV’s

51% of U.S. 18-49s are reached by podcasts weekly, according to Edison’s recently released 2025 Infinite Dial. Nielsen’s Comparable Metrics reports live and time-shifted TV reaches 61% of 18-49s weekly versus AM/FM radio’s impressive 78%.

Podcast female audience growth (+16%) has been explosive

From 2020 to 2023, women 18+ monthly podcast reach remained in the mid to upper 30% range. Female monthly podcast reach surged +16% from 45% in 2024 to 52% this year. 2025 audiences represent watching or listening to podcasts with 7% of women reporting they only watch.

Versus 2017, the monthly reach gap among men and women has narrowed considerably

The gap between men and women monthly podcast reach has narrowed dramatically. Back in 2017, female podcast monthly reach was 78% of men. Now, female monthly podcast reach (52%) is 91% of male monthly reach (57%).

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.

Podcasts have scale: Monthly reach in the mid/high 60s and weekly reach in the low 50s

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.

Arnie Semsky’s “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 network cable, 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:

• Podcasting is now a mass reach media vehicle. Podcasting is no longer a niche platform lacking scale. As such, podcasts deserve a larger role in media plans as opposed to “test and learn” experimental buys. 158 million Americans, 55% of persons 12+, are reached monthly. Among demographics such as persons 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, monthly reach is now 65% to 73%.
• It is feasible to consider shifting TV budgets to podcasting given that podcast 18-34 weekly reach (52%) is as big as TV’s (52%).
• Brands targeting women should give podcasts a starring role in media plans: Podcast female audiences have hit record highs in habituation and reach.
• Among male demographics, monthly reach is now in the low 70% range.
• Adopt agency media legend Arnie Semsky’s “5% solution” to podcasts: Allocate 5% of digital ad budgets to podcasts.

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

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

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.