• by Ray Schultz , August 17, 2022

The percentage of Hispanics who ever listened to a podcast has risen—from 45% in 2020 to 59% this year, according to the Latino Podcast Listener Report 2022, a study by Edison Research.

But fewer have listened in the past month—34%, compared to 36% in 2021. The total U.S. has seen a similar falloff—38%, down from 40% last year. At the same time, 27% listened in the last week prior to the survey. 

Of Hispanic listeners, 51% have done so with podcasts that were mostly in English, and 33% to those that were mostly in Spanish.  

Of those born in the U.S., 48% are first generation, 14% second generation and 13% fourth generation. And 25% were born outside the U.S.  

And 17% identify themselves as LGBTQ+, up from 7% in 2021 but down from 22% in 2018. 

The first podcast they ever listened to attracted them with:

• Topic I am interested in—54%
• Host of a radio show I like—15%
• TV or movie celebrity I like—15%
• Music artist I like—13%
• Something else—3%

The topics they have listened to include: 

• Comedy—39% 
• Society and culture—33% 
• True crime—32% 
• TV & movies—31%
• Sports—27% 
• Health and Fitness—27%
• Technology—27% 
• Politics—27%

The percentages of those listening to these topics were up over prior years.  

In addition, monthly listeners were drawn to:

• History—27% 
• U.S. national news—25% 
• Personal development—25%
• Science—23%
• Games/Hobbies—22%
• Education—21%
• Business/Econ/Entrepreneurship—21%
• Religion and Spirituality—21% 
• Video Gaming/E-Sports--19%

Of this sample, 44% follow U.S. national news very closely, and 38% somewhat so. And 42% keep a very close eye on local news.

In addition, 30% are very tuned into news from Latin America, and 35% somewhat.  

However, only 37% have given money to local news sources—in the form of subscriptions or donations, say— in the past year. 

Edison surveyed 2,500 U.S. Hispanic/Latino consumers in June 2022.