Podcast statistics 2026

The economics behind podcast growth

Podcasting had its gold rush in 2020, when more than a million new shows launched according to Listen Notes. Many stopped again: in 2025, 211,172 new podcasts were added, about a fifth of the 2020 peak. At the same time, 579,067 podcasts have published an episode in 2026, so the active part of the market is much smaller than the total catalogue (Listen Notes, 2026).

Revenue tells a different story. US podcast advertising grew 72% in 2021 and 26% in 2022, slowed to 5% in 2023 ($1.9 billion) (IAB, 2024), and grew 17.6% in 2025 to $2.862 billion according to IAB and PwC (IAB/PwC via Radio Ink, 2026). Digital audio as a whole, including music streaming and streaming radio, reached $8.4 billion in US ad revenue in 2025.

The platforms keep investing: Spotify lists 8 million podcast titles across 184 markets (Spotify, 2026), and YouTube reports more than 1 billion monthly viewers of podcast content (YouTube, 2025).

• 3,832,243 podcasts and 196,956,159 episodes are listed by Listen Notes (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 1,020,444 new podcasts launched in 2020, against 211,172 in 2025 (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 27,363,320 new episodes were published in 2025 (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 579,067 podcasts published their latest episode in 2026 (Listen Notes, 2026)
• $2.862 billion in US podcast ad revenue in 2025, +17.6% year-over-year (IAB/PwC via Radio Ink, 2026)
• $1.9 billion in US podcast ad revenue in 2023, a modest 5% increase (IAB, 2024)
• $8.4 billion US digital audio ad revenue in 2025, up 10.2% from $7.6 billion (IAB/PwC via Radio Ink, 2026)
• 2,416,607 podcasts in the Listen Notes database come from the United States (Listen Notes, 2026)

Spotify: largest catalogue, second in use

Spotify combines music and podcasts in a single app, which exposes hundreds of millions of music listeners to podcast content. The company reports 8 million podcast titles and 788 million users in 184 markets (Spotify, 2026), and more than 390 million users have streamed a video podcast (Spotify Advertising, 2026). In the US, Spotify accounts for 25% of daily podcast listening time and is the most used podcast service for 20% of weekly podcast consumers (Edison Research, Q4 2025).

YouTube Podcasts: the fastest riser

YouTube is now the podcast service Americans use most: 39% of weekly podcast consumers use it most often, against 20% for Spotify and 11% for Apple Podcasts (Edison Research, Q4 2025). YouTube reported more than 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content in January 2025 and over 400 million hours of podcasts watched monthly on TV screens (YouTube, 2025). Its strength lies in the combination of video, search functionality, and its massive existing audience: podcasts on YouTube are discovered not only through recommendations but also through Google search results, a discovery channel that traditional podcast apps cannot offer.

• YouTube 32%, Spotify 25%, Apple 20%: share of daily podcast listening time in the US, Q4 2025 (Edison Research, Q4 2025)
• YouTube 39%, Spotify 20%, Apple Podcasts 11%: service used most often by US weekly podcast consumers (Edison Research, Q4 2025)
• 57% of Americans have both listened to and watched a podcast (Edison Research, 2026)
• 7% of Americans watched podcasts in the last month without reporting listening (Edison Research, 2026)
• 8 million podcast titles on Spotify (Spotify, 2026)
• 390 million+ Spotify users have streamed a video podcast (Spotify Advertising, 2026)

The platform battle and what it means for creators

Intensifying competition between platforms has direct consequences for podcast creators and advertisers. Spotify, Apple, and YouTube all offer creator programs to attract and keep talent, and subscriptions and video monetisation give creators revenue streams beyond advertising.

For advertisers, platform fragmentation means an omnichannel approach is increasingly critical: even YouTube, the most used service, is the first choice of fewer than four in ten US weekly podcast consumers. To cover the full audience, advertisers combine platforms and use host-read formats that perform consistently everywhere, a playbook most online marketing agencies now fold into their paid media mix.

What makes podcast listeners so valuable?

Listeners actively choose a show and a topic. In the Dutch Markteffect Podcast Monitor, 62% say the subject decides which episode they play and 35% the host. Relaxation (49%) and entertainment (38%) are the main reasons to listen, and 27% listen to follow interesting people (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026). That personal connection shows up on Spotify too: 59% of Spotify podcast fans feel more connected to hosts than to social media influencers (Spotify Advertising, 2026).

Discovery still runs mostly through people: 42% of Dutch listeners find new podcasts via tips from family and friends and 37% via social media, while 24% rely on recommendations from podcast platforms and 23% on search engines like Google (Markteffect, 2024). For creators, being findable in search and easy to share matters as much as platform algorithms.

• 8.3 episodes per month is what the average Dutch listener plays, up from 4.6 in 2025 (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026)
• 127 minutes per week is what weekly listeners in the Netherlands spend on podcasts (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026)
• 51% of listeners play a podcast during their daily routine, such as cooking, cleaning or travelling (Markteffect, 2024)
• 53% of listeners like not having to pay full attention, so they often play podcasts in the background (Markteffect, 2024)
• 74% listen to recent episodes, 60% also to episodes more than six months old and 50% to episodes more than a year old (Markteffect, 2024)
• Home (62%), walking (27%) and the car (22%) are the most common listening places in the Netherlands (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2023)
• Society & Culture is the largest podcast category with 692,419 shows (Listen Notes, 2026)

Why companies are launching their own podcasts

Branded podcasts are more than a passing trend. They give companies a channel to demonstrate expertise, build relationships with potential customers, and establish thought leadership. The difference from traditional content marketing is fundamental: where a blog post or whitepaper is consumed passively, a podcast creates an active, intimate relationship between brand and listener.

The Dutch Markteffect Podcast Monitor shows what listeners expect from a business podcast: 80% say it inspires them and gives them new ideas, 70% use it to keep up with developments in their field, 60% say it changed their view of their field, and 47% that it helps them do their daily work better. Only 11% of listeners sometimes play a business podcast, so the audience is small but motivated (Markteffect, 2024).

Episodes keep working long after release: 74% of Dutch listeners play recently released episodes, but 60% also listen to episodes more than six months old and 50% to episodes more than a year old (Markteffect, 2024). That long tail is what turns a podcast into an asset rather than a one-off campaign.

• 474,336 business podcasts make Business the third-largest podcast category (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 11% of Dutch podcast listeners sometimes listen to a business podcast (Markteffect, 2024)
• 80% / 70% / 60% / 47%: of business-podcast listeners get new ideas, keep up with their field, changed their view of their field, or do their work better (Markteffect, 2024)
• 50% of Dutch listeners also play episodes released more than a year ago (Markteffect, 2024)
• 6% of Dutch listeners listened to follow interesting companies in 2023, down from 14% in the first measurement (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2023)
• 62% of Dutch listeners choose an episode by topic, 35% by host (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026)
• 61% of US podcast ad revenue goes to brand-building (IAB, 2023)

The profile of the podcast listener

Eurostat data show how strongly podcast listening tracks education: across the EU, 41.5% of people with high formal education listened in the last three months of 2024, against 17.5% with low formal education. In the Netherlands the figures are 58.3% and 25.3% (Eurostat, 2024).

Age matters too, but less than it used to. In the US, monthly consumption among people 55+ rose from 21% in 2023 to 44% in 2026, while 35-54-year-olds became the largest group at 68% (Edison Research, 2026). In the Netherlands, 25-34-year-olds listen most (60.1%), and even among 65-74-year-olds one in five (21.1%) listens, more than twice the EU average of 9.8% (Eurostat, 2024).

Regional differences remain. The largest group of Dutch listeners (59%) lives in the provinces of Utrecht, North Holland and South Holland, while in Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe 47% of residents listen to podcasts, against 52% in the east and 51% in the south of the country (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026).

• 62% of men and 54% of women in the US consumed a podcast in the last month (Edison Research, 2026)
• 43.4% of Dutch men and 40.9% of Dutch women listened in the last three months (Eurostat, 2024)
• 60.1% of Dutch 25-34-year-olds listen, against 43.5% in the EU (Eurostat, 2024)
• 47.6% of Dutch students listened to podcasts in the last three months (Eurostat, 2024)
• 79% of Dutch 18-35-year-olds listen to podcasts, against 34% of people 55+ (29% in the previous measurement) (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026)
• 69% of highly educated Dutch adults listen, against 31% of those with low education (Markteffect via Consultancy.nl, 2026)

Implications for targeting and segmentation

The demographic profile of podcast listeners has direct implications for advertisers and marketers. The strong link with education makes the medium well-suited for premium products and services, financial products, business software, and B2B offerings. The fast growth among people 55+ means podcasts are no longer only a channel for younger audiences.

Topic preferences also differ between groups, which lets advertisers match their message to relevant content and listening context. In the Netherlands, for example, men more often choose news and politics, sport and history, while women more often choose health, stories and (true) crime.

Business podcasts as a B2B marketing tool

Business is one of the largest podcast categories worldwide, with 474,336 shows, after Society & Culture (692,419) and Education (623,516) (Listen Notes, 2026). For B2B companies, the medium offers in-depth conversations, access to an educated audience, and an intimate format that builds trust.

Listeners of business podcasts are looking for substance. In the Netherlands, 70% use them to keep up with developments in their field and 47% say business podcasts help them do their daily work better (Markteffect, 2024). The audience also overlaps with early adopters of new technology: in the US, 55% of AI users consumed a podcast in the last week, against 33% of non-users (Edison Research, 2026).

One effective strategy is inviting potential customers or partners as guests. The guest shares expertise, the episode reaches the guest's network, and the relationship starts with a conversation instead of a pitch. Measure it like any other channel: track which guests and episodes lead to conversations.

• 474,336 business podcasts worldwide in the Listen Notes database (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 623,516 education podcasts make Education the second-largest category (Listen Notes, 2026)
• 70% of Dutch business-podcast listeners use them to keep up with developments in their field (Markteffect, 2024)
• 60% say business podcasts changed their view of their field (Markteffect, 2024)
• 11% of Dutch listeners sometimes play a business podcast (Markteffect, 2024)
• 55% of AI users in the US consumed a podcast in the last week, against 33% of non-users (Edison Research, 2026)
• 41.5% of highly educated EU residents listened to podcasts in the last three months, against 17.5% with low formal education (Eurostat, 2024)