• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 7, 2024

Podcasts have become popular advertising and marketing tools giving brands an opportunity to promote products and services, with 65% of U.S. adults saying they have listened to a podcast in the past three months.

Overall, 46% of podcast listeners say they have learned about a new brand or product, and an additional 23% made a purchase of that product based on an ad or sponsorship, according to Cognitive Sciences’ team at AnalyticsIQ.

The most popular products purchased from podcast ads were Food and Beverage at 46%, Health & Wellness at 40%, and Beauty products at 26%.

The data, released Thursday, was collected from a large, random sample of the U.S. population. The goal was to analyze current behavior around podcasts and purchasing. It was fielded online. Participants were compensated for their time and informed about the purpose of the study.

Participants were asked to provide demographic information and responded to a series of questions regarding their podcast listening behavior, including genres, frequency, and format of podcasts, as well as podcast purchasing behavior.

Audience segments differ by generation, with 79% of Gen Z saying they listen to podcasts most, followed by 76% of Millennials, 67% of Gen X, and 49% of Baby Boomers. Gender plays a role, too, with 68% of males and 62% of females gravitating toward podcasts.

YouTube is the preferred podcast platform, with 59% of overall listeners participating in the study pointing to Google’s video platform. Some 44% say they like Spotify, followed by 26% citing Apple Podcasts, 20% like Facebook, 19% prefer Amazon Music, and 17% cited Web browser.

Google Podcasts took 16% share, while TikTok took 15% share, Instagram took 15% share and Apple iTunes took 13% share.

Format preferences vary as well. Some 62% said they like conversational, 50% like interviews, 46% prefer monologues, 36% cited storytelling and investigations, 31% like roundtables, 10% trend toward repurposed content, and 10% like theatrical.

The most popular podcast genres were Comedy at 32%, True Crime at 31%, and Sports at 31%.