Americans Listen to Podcasts More Than Talk Radio Now, Study Shows (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0180876696
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/01/054233/americans-listen-to-podcasts-more-than-talk-radio-now-study-shows
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/25/americans-now-listen-to-podcasts-more-often-than-talk-radio-study-shows/
> The researchers have tracked these statistics over the last decade, and almost always, the percentage of time people spent listening to podcasts increased, while their time with spoken radio broadcasts decreased. For the first time this year, podcasts eclipsed spoken-word radio with 40% of listening time, as opposed to 39% for radio...
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> We checked with Edison to see if these statistics include video podcasts, and they do. But the need to clarify that question points to the undeniable growing prevalence of video podcasts, hosted on platforms like Spotify and YouTube, which marks another key trend in podcasting... YouTube said that viewers watched [3]700 million hours of podcasts each month in 2025 on living room devices, like TVs, up from 400 million the previous year.
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/25/americans-now-listen-to-podcasts-more-often-than-talk-radio-study-shows/
[2] https://www.edisonresearch.com/podcasts-lead-am-fm-in-spoken-word-listening-marking-a-first/
[3] https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/podcasts-living-room-in-2025/
Ads (Score:3)
Ads can be skipped on podcasts. Not so much on broadcast radio which is mostly ads now.
Talk radio is completely dominated (Score:3)
By right wing extremists and has been for at least 15 or 20 years. The only exception has been NPR and that's getting slashed by the current administration.
So if you're not somebody who craves more Rush Limbaugh then yeah talk radio is pretty freaking worthless to you.
A lot of times I hear people on the right wing complain about late night TV ignoring the fact that you guys have Sinclair media and literally every single radio station in the country. Honestly I think it's why FM radios weren't taken out of cars.
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly I think it's why FM radios weren't taken out of cars.
This is the reason, but for AM. FM is mostly commercials for slip-and-fall attorneys/pain clinics/check cashing places, with the occasional music. AM is where all the hard-core right-wing stuff is and that's why it's now required to be in vehicles (the same way airbags and seat belts are).
Re: Yes extreme right wing extremists have identit (Score:2)
Thanks ChatGPT.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah you're right I meant I AM not FM thanks.
Re: (Score:1)
NPR is propaganda too: it always serves to whitewash and minimize the crimes of the US and its allies to a liberal audience. It does so in between delightful slice-of-life pieces, some pretty good music selections, and its own variety of vanilla latte capitalism ("Marketplace") where every stupid carbon capture pilot technology is offered to the audience as completely viable for "well-meaning capitalists" (their phrasing, not mine) to invest in.
NPR went hard on the Russiagating as well.
Re: Talk radio is completely dominated (Score:2)
Which particular crimes would those be? Be specific.
Re: (Score:1)
Oh I don't know, maybe read the fucking news the last two days.
Re: (Score:2)
> Oh I don't know, maybe read the fucking news the last two days.
Did NPR not report on the recent Iran war? I have moved to podcasts a while ago but find it hard to believe NPR ignored it happened.
I had Claude Opus comb through all NPR coverage of the war over the past couple days, and it found 21 articles on their site. Its estimate was that 48% of the content was Neutral / Straight News, 43% was Negative / Critical of U.S.-Israel, and 9% was Positive / Supportive of U.S.-Israel (most articles were a combination of each).
What has your analysis of NPR's coverage of the I
I stopped listening to talk radio a long time ago (Score:3)
I stopped listening to talk radio in it's early days because I reallized what an a55hole it was making me. Plus a lot going on in my personal life I needed to focus on. I didn't notice how much of my life that hate radio was starting to take up until I noticed it in my best friend. So started back listening to music in my car and on the radio at night, and even parted ways with my best friend because it turned him into a different person. My life became so much better with music back in my life full time. Today I do watch video podcasts, don't like audio only podcasts. There are so many to choose from and I mainly listen to music podcast that will get into current events now and then. I also watch a little of the video radio shows because with internet I can pickup shows from all over the country and they are short capsules to the full shows. I was watching the full lenght podcast and they were getting longer and longer so even those I just watch the edited short of. I also don't get into any of these with friends so when with them we just talk like old friends. I think people let these show over take them without realizing it and they become addicted to them. There is enough stuff going on just reading the news so why pile on more, get back to enjoying the other things in life you used to do.
Re: (Score:2)
Choose from what? Is there a general list of them? How do you find new ones? Just random searches on google or praying YouTube recommends you one?
Breaking News (Score:2)
Breaking News: Technology Changes The Way People Do Things, film at 11
Also Breaking News: Horseless Carriages Seen On Main Street!
Re: (Score:2)
No one is surprised people have moved away from the radio. But it's still important to track the progress. It has significant impact on marketing and other investments. It would be wrong to think no one is still listening to radio just because there are options many people feel are objectively better.
night time AM radio (Score:2)
Coast2CoastAM is all over the AM broadcast band and George Noory is the host to many varied carpetbaggers peddling snakeoil with implausible and ridiculous stories that defy logic so bad it is cringeworthy, I usually listen to kxo1070 in Los Angeles at night because it isn't politics and it isn't coast2coast
Re: (Score:2)
I usually listen to kxo1070 in Los Angeles at night...
If so, you're picking up signals from an alternate Earth. KXO broadcasts from El Centro, but not on 1070; what you're listening to is [1]KNX [wikipedia.org], a Clear Channel station and one of the oldest radio stations in the USA.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KNX_(AM)
Must podcasts are just utterly infuriating (Score:2)
I tried to get into podcasts, but most of them are just so friggin irritating. They're largely just two or more windbags talking, cracking inside jokes and going off on completely irrelevant personal stories and trying to make you feel like you're there and part of the conversation. Problem is, "trying" is the operative word - none of it is real and the whole thing sits in the uncanny valley of fake authenticity. There was one podcast about the history of a company I worked for - yes, it was remarkably well
Podcasts Search (Score:2)
How do most people search through available podcasts? It’s not like there’s a general list like a tv guide. It’s all word of mouth or stumbling upon one during a YouTube recommendation. I feel like this is a major negative in podcast discovery and democratization of information.
Re: (Score:2)
> How do most people search through available podcasts? It’s not like there’s a general list like a tv guide. It’s all word of mouth or stumbling upon one during a YouTube recommendation. I feel like this is a major negative in podcast discovery and democratization of information.
I think you're right.
I use the Pocket Casts app, which does have several categories of recommendation: Trending, You Might Like, Award Winning, etc. But in my case, most of the podcast I listen to are the result of searching on a specific topic. For example I might search for history podcasts and be presented with a selection that I can then whittle down based on whether they appeal to me, and whether they have good reviews. Finally, I might pick out an episode or two and listen. If it passes that test I'll
Re: Talk radio (Score:2)
Given trump has won 2 elections that's a lot of people who agree with his spiel so not sure why you think these stations wouldn't have listeners for his brand of politics.