Listening to Podcasts Becoming A Habit

In this week’s Westwood One blog, Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2019 study serves as the guideline for predicting the future of podcasting habituation. By following the 20-year history of audio streaming trends, the posting outlines the bright future for podcasting habituation as it continues to grow as a major part of the American audio experience.

Key Highlights:

• Habituation ratio = weekly listeners divided by monthly audience: The “habituation ratio,” or the ratio between monthly and weekly audiences, is a simple way to determine if media habits are forming.
• For audio streaming, it took decades to build into a weekly habit: It has taken nearly 20 years for audio streaming weekly audiences to represent 90% of monthly listening.
• Podcast audiences are getting in the listening habit: The habituation ratio of monthly to weekly listening has been growing steadily, even as the monthly podcast audience has nearly tripled. Podcast habituation has grown from the mid-50% range in 2013/2014 to 69% in 2019.

Podcast reach and habituation are both up: Since monthly and weekly podcast audiences are growing, it is likely that habituation will also grow significantly.