Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Most Podcasts Listeners Are In English-Speaking Countries

For the first time, the eMarketer forecasting team at Insider Intelligence has produced a comprehensive set of international forecasts for podcast listeners. eMarketer claims it can now estimate and project podcast penetration for 18 major markets around the world, enough to develop a representative snapshot for global podcast listening.

The 18 countries include a vast majority of the largest podcast markets in the world. This cohort also comprises nearly all the core nations for podcast marketability, monetization, and advertising.

eMarketer drew a range of regional and international conclusions based on this latest data. Our major findings include:
  • Podcasts are most popular in English-speaking and English-proficient countries.
  • North America and Asia-Pacific have the most podcast listeners, but very different levels of adoption among their populations.
  • Several emerging markets are growing their podcast listener base rapidly, particularly in Latin America.

Like many entertainment products, podcasts are an increasingly borderless medium. However, unlike movies, TV, sports, and music, podcasts are very difficult to enjoy if the listener does not understand the language spoken by the content creator. This reality is shaping the development of podcast audiences across the globe. Led by the US, countries with primarily English-speaking populations have embraced podcasts the most deeply.

The US is the global podcast leader, in terms of both content production and listener adoption. With the enormous US-made library of podcast content, English speakers around the world have a wider array of shows available to them than non-English speakers do. This in turn smooths the path for podcast adoption in countries with high levels of English-language proficiency.

No comments:

Post a Comment