About half of American adults say they’ve listened to a podcast in the past year, according to recently-released survey results from Pew Research Center. With podcasts gaining in popularity in recent years, the survey examines reasons why Americans tune in and the influence that podcasts have on their behaviors.
The results indicate that listeners engage with podcasts for a variety of reasons. Some 88% say that they listen to podcasts in order to learn, while an almost-equal 87% say they tune in for entertainment. Close behind, 81% engage with podcasts to have something to listen to when doing something else, while 71% do so to hear other people’s opinions.
The most common “major reason” for listening, though, is for entertainment, as cited by 60% of respondents. Some 55% say that learning is a major reason for listening, and 52% say a primary reason is to have something to listen to while they do something else.
These primary reasons for listening – entertainment and education – are reflected in the most common podcast topics among listeners. The leading topic is Comedy, which almost half (47%) say they regularly listen to, followed closely by Entertainment, pop culture, and the arts (46%). Politics and government (41%), Science and technology (40%) and History (40%) also figure prominently among the most frequently listened-to podcast topics.
Interestingly, there’s an age dynamic at play in the reasons why people listen to podcasts. The younger the adult, the more likely they are to say that entertainment is a major reason for tuning in, and the same pattern is apparent for listening to podcasts as a diversion.
By contrast, older listeners are more likely to listen to podcasts for educational purposes – and in fact this is the leading reason for listening among those ages 50-64 and 65+. Older listeners are also more likely than younger listeners to engage with podcasts in order to stay up to date about current events.
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