Most Popular Podcast Platforms Stats In 2024
These stats will help you if you’re a podcaster or just want to know how the podcast space is increasing exponentially.
The podcast data will reveal exciting facts about the most popular podcast platforms.
According to the latest data, the number of podcast listeners worldwide is set to hit half a billion in 2024, and the annual increase in people registering for podcasts is about 8.6%.
According to statistics, the number of podcast listeners in the USA alone is 109.2 million.
It also reveals that podcasts have been another marketing platform for marketers and entrepreneurs.
If you want to introduce podcasts into your marketing strategies, you need to know the list of the most popular podcast platforms.
This will help you understand which platforms to pay more attention to and drive thousands of targeted visitors to your business.
The Most Popular Podcast Listening Platforms
Recent statistics show Apple podcasts and Spotify are the most popular and leading podcast platforms worldwide.
Apple Podcasts is used by 35.4% of podcast listeners, while Spotify is used by 34.4%.
It shows that both platforms hold 69.8% of the listeners.
We can say 7 out of 10 listeners use Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Web Browser holds 6.2% of the listeners, and it is the third most popular podcast platform, while Google Podcasts is the fourth most popular platform with 2.6% listeners.
Apple iTunes holds 2.3% of the listeners and is the number 5 podcast platform.
Below are how other popular podcast platforms perform.
- Buzzsprout Embed Player: 1.7%
- CasBox:1.6%
- Overcast: 1.1%
- Pocket Casts: 1.0%
- Your Buzzsprout Site: 0.9%
- Amazon Music: 0.9%
- Podcast Addict: 0.9%
Most Popular Podcast Listening Platforms: Top Device Type
Let’s take a closer look at the most popular podcast listening platforms in terms of types of device
Mobile take the lead with high margins, and according to the data,85% of podcasters listen to podcasts on their mobile device, while 9.4% use a computer.
With the operating system, 62.7% of listeners used an Apple iPhone, while 21.1% used an Android phone.
Windows computers account for 7.2% of listeners, and the Apple computer has 1.9%.
In addition, the smart device also has many listeners, as smart speakers hold 0.7% while smart TVs hold 0.4%
Most Popular Podcast Platforms: Episode Duration
To incorporate podcasts into your marketing strategies, you must go beyond the most popular podcast hosting platforms.
One very important factor is episode duration. It will help you to understand the duration of your show.
According to the new data, 31% of the podcast episodes are between 20 and 40 minutes long, while 22% are 40 to 60 minutes long.
- Less than 10 minutes: 10%
- 10-20 minutes: 15%
- 20-40 minutes 31%
- 40-60 minutes: 22%
- Over 60 minutes: 16%
Most Popular Podcast Listening Platforms: Per Country
Podcasts are more popular in some countries, and people spend more time listening to podcasts than others.
Let’s look at the Podcast listeners per country worldwide.
- United States 44.5%
- United Kingdom 6.3%
- Canada 4.6%
- Australia 4.3%
- Netherlands 3.1%
- German 2.9%
- Taiwan 2.6%
- Vietnam 2.1%
- Mexico 2.4%
Podcast Listeners Statistics
There are over half of a billion (500 million) podcast listeners.
1 in 5 internet users listen to the podcast.
Over 100 million US listen to podcasts.
Apple Music and Spotify have more than 60 million US-based podcast listeners.
Around the age of 14 to 35 years, listen to podcasts.
Spotify is the most popular podcast platform in the US, with 25% of users, followed by Apple podcast, with 20% of users.
Podcast Downloads
Let’s find out the statistics of people who download podcasts.
Recent stats show that 70% of podcast downloads happened on Apple podcasts, more than Spotify.
Below is the breakdown of the most popular podcast platforms with the highest downloads.
Platform Percentage
Apple 70.8%
Spotify: 8.90
IheartRadio: 3%
Alexa: 2.3%
Overcast: 1.7%
Amazon Music: 1.2%
Google podcasts: 1.2%
Product addict: 1.1%
Castbox: 1%
Podcast Marketing Statistics
If you’re yet to include podcast to your marketing strategies, you are losing to your competitors. Statistics shows that more than 50% of marketers are using podcast to reach more audience.
Investing time and money in a podcast is worth it,and many start-ups and entrepreneurs are moving toward podcast advertising to market their products and services while increasing their brand awareness.
How Podcasters Generate Revenue
Generating more revenue from a podcast depends on many factors, such as the number of listeners and podcast downloads per month.
- Making money through Ads
- Podcast advertising networks
- Brand sponsorships
- Premium content
- Live show
- Donation and crowdfunding
- Affiliate marketing
- Paid podcast subscriptions
Podcast Advertising Revenue
As the number of podcast listeners increases daily, revenue generated from podcasts doubles and many podcasters are seen as having more potential in this industry.
Many people see podcasting as a new digital marketing channel that can yield more results than traditional methods like social media.
The recent data shows that podcasting revenue may reach $3.2 billion in the US alone this year.
And that would be around a 42.7% increase compared to the previous year.
In the years 2022 and 2023, the podcast revenue in the US has increased by 25.4% per year.
As we can see, the number of podcast listeners is directly proportional to the podcast revenue.
From 2015 to 2024, the annual growth rate of podcasts is around 47.8%.
In 2015, the total ad revenue was $105.7 million, and in 2024, it is estimated that the US podcast annual revenue will hit $3.2 billion.
Top Revenue Generating Content Genres (US)
Sport 15%
Society & Culture 14%
Comedy 14 %
News and political opinion 12%
There is more to podcasting, and it may be a game-changer for your business if you add it to your marketing plan.
Here are a few of the podcast hosting platforms
Podbean: Podbean is among the top-rated podcast hosting platforms for your show.
BuzzSprout: Another popular podcasting platform is Buzzsprout. It provides all the resources to start and host your podcast.
If you want to explore more podcast hosting services, you can read the 14 best podcast hosting platforms.
