🎧 How Remote Work and Reduced Commuting Have Reshaped Podcast Listening Habits – PCI 447

Hey, everyone. I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist at Blueberry. And I'm Todd Cochran, CEO of Blueberry. Welcome to Podcast Insider. This week, we're exploring how remote work and less time spent commuting has reshaped podcast listening habits over the past few years. We're pulling insights from Edison Research, Jacob Zabini, and more to look at when, where, and how people are tuning in today and what it means for creators like you.

You're listening to Podcast Insider, a weekly podcast bringing insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in. A lot of things have changed in the past couple years with podcasting. That's a fact. That that's that just goes across the board even not even for podcasting, but we have definitely seen changes, in listenership.

You know, I'm I'm definitely listening a lot more at the house. I I rarely, you know, I rarely leave, like, Monday through Thursday. I I'm just parked here unless there's something to do. So I listen in the house versus on the road.

So, you know, listening and watching has been you know, it's because of this major shift from working from home. And according to the researchers, there's clear data in some of these changes that, we need to go over here today. Yeah. It's saying that, about more than half of podcast listening now happens at home, and, that is, you know, that's the biggest one right now. And that only 11% of podcast listening is now occurring in the car, which is a major drop, and I

am part of that. You you're part of it. I'm part of it. I used to have a forty five minute commute, you know, there and back every day when we were at the office. And now that's just I've I've sometimes get to that listening, and sometimes I don't. But believe it or not, it's actually come back a little bit. So it was lower last year, and it's it's come back because more people are going to the office, but still, it's a it's a seismic change from before. 16%

happens at work. Well, where's work? You know? I mean, many remote workers now blend podcast in their daily home routine, so that's, you know, that's what I've been doing. Yeah. For sure. I definitely will listen every once in a while if there's, like, a you know, if I'm just in the mood, like, during my lunch hour or if I'm getting ready for work or something like that. But I've I've switched to more binge listening, I think, nowadays.

Yeah. For me, it's more, I would say, in the evenings. I can't listen and actively participate in a podcast and actually work. Oh, no. I can't do that either. You know, I end up pushing you know, holding the a button down on my keyboard, and there's, you know, 500 a's because I've you know, I paused and stared off in this space. I will type whatever I hear. Yeah. That's true too. I've done that as well. So I, you know, I definitely am not, not listening while I'm working.

And, really, this is a fundamental show a a shift. And with home having replaced commute as the podcasting top listing location. And, you know, Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media observed this trend in both podcasting and radio. Of course, radio probably took the biggest hit. He says the card used to be podcasting sweet spot, but with many still working from home and hybrid schedules in play, in car listening while rebounding is still well below pre pandemic levels. And I I completely believe that.

Oh, I I am definitely part of that. I got a new car early twenty twenty one, and so I got SiriusXM for free for, you know, however many months.

And then after that, I just couldn't justify the cost anymore. I was like, I barely drive. Or when I do, it's for hours at a time. So I dropped that, and I personally am just wildly disappointed in the local radio options in Columbus, Ohio. So I just don't listen at all anymore. You know, what's interesting is, talking about Sirius, they, you know, that first two years, whatever you get for free, then they send you this bill like Yeah. Yeah. To renew, that's $379.

I'm like, nope. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. And I canceled, and then they came back in about two weeks. I said, we'll give it to you for $39 for a year. I'm like, oh, wow. Well, maybe. And I got to thinking, am I really listening to I and I said, nope. And the same thing, I canceled Sirius as well. But Yeah. You know, I think despite the list the shift in listening environments, what's amazing is podcasting as a meeting has continued to to thrive.

There's some great information from the infinite dial from 2025. Yeah. Since 2020, we've gone up in Americans 12 and older. There is 55% of Americans listening on a monthly basis, up from 42%, back in 2020. So in the past four or five years, we've gone up, you know, over 10%. That's amazing. Yeah. And that total US audience is now estimated at 210,000,000.

So the while, the when and where may be changing, how many is still moving upwards? And we see that on our listeners' statistics as well in, in growth. It's kind of funny. I I I keep saying this saying, and I've been saying it now for about twelve months, I've probably at least I said, this is the best time ever to be a podcaster. People look at me funny, and this is because the the audience is continuing to grow.

You know, the audiences went nowhere. And in fact, it's it's a lot better now because there's fewer actual active shows. So it's just given those that are doing audio podcast this this huge leg up. I think there also was kinda like that that, you know, we're all at home. Let's start a podcast mindset that we had for a while, and then we realized, no. I I went back into normalcy, and now I don't have the timer. Or or that was a lot of work, and I don't wanna actually wanna do it.

Oh, they went from three they went from one show to three shows. Now they're back to one show. Correct. Exactly. But we do have some, you know, ways that you can adapt given that there are

more people listening at home than than on the commute nowadays. So one of those things is, you might wanna change when you release your episodes. You know, if you were doing midday or early evening, that might mean that they're more likely to engage when they're home as opposed to the, like, 6AM on the dot when people were releasing specifically for that commute. I probably break one of the rules. I release Monday night

and Thursday night. And, obviously, my Monday show is always much more listened to than my Thursday, but they're in the night. So it's Tuesday and Friday morning, so I don't get as good of a bump on the weekend as I do on the first of the week. You know, if I had a perfect schedule, it would allow me I'd probably do Monday, Wednesday, but then there's not enough spread. And if you're just doing weekly, I think that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are pretty safe days to publish.

And probably that's where the if we looked at the statistics, probably that's where the majority of them are. Yeah. But, again, maybe that's a Sunday night release and a Monday morning, so it's available Monday morning. So, there's different ways to look at it. But also, curate it gives you this ability, to understand that that at home listeners are cooking. I listen to a lot of podcasts when I'm cooking.

I'm not a big gym guy, so I'm not working out, but I do listen to podcasts when I'm doing chores. And, obviously, podcasts that feel conversational or companion like will likely perform better. I think I do better with the conversational ones when when I'm at home. And, you know, I I just feel like a fly on the wall of a conversation, and I'm not necessarily trying to comprehend anything that's too deep. So that is good for, you know, if I'm just, like, puttering around making dinner. I

do. I was thinking about your Thursday releases.

I will do, you know, chores for a couple of hours on the weekends, and then I am more likely to listen to a podcast, you know, where I'm like, okay. I have to clean the whole house. Let me go do that.

And then when I am, you know, on a road trip, then I'll listen to episode after episode of, like, here, we're gonna go take a deep dive into this environmental thing that I wanna learn about, something like that where I'm like, no. I can fully focus on this because, like, I'm just on the highway with no one else. Yeah. This this Saturday, I did, this past Saturday, I did I think it's kinda got

out got out of hand here. I've been back and traveled to London and all around and and just see if things needed a a bit of a wipe down. And, I think I was four hours in. I felt like, wow. I can sit down and breathe. But, yeah, the whole time I was listening to podcast. But, you know, there you know, everything's you know, everyone's talking about video. So that may be an option if you have

the time and energy to do it. You know, that people are watching on YouTube and Spotify because they're definitely driving a hybrid podcast video model. I think, you know, YouTube's doing it better than Spotify, especially if you're audio first. That adding that video component to Spotify overwrites your audio file. So that's a big, bit of an issue. But also video can add a dimen visual dimension, increase discoverability if, again, if you have time, if you want to

put the effort in. And by the way, Blueberry does offer true video podcasting PRSS, so you can ask us questions on that. And always

has. But you don't have to do video. When you're doing when you're cleaning the house, are you watching the TV? No. No. No. I'm I'm cleaning the bathroom, you know, which is gross, but, you know, it's just it is a thing. Yeah. So, one last thing that you can be doing at this point in time is, you know, just promote across multiple channels. There's no commute, so there's less routine for people. Or just that their routine has changed, so they might need a reminder.

That's that's definitely a good one. But alongside that, email, all of your social media, you know, if people are still doing smart speaker integrations, because I feel like people probably use those at home more nowadays, actually. All those types of reminders can help reinforce those these new listening habits that you're trying to help, get into their routine.

There's definitely new opportunities emerging. You know, this rise in home listening offers flexibility and format, definitely deeper engagement, space for some experimentation with content length and delivery. I still think that only a few shows can do super long content well. There is this thing that's happening largely, I think, well, maybe worldwide. People have a shorter, basically, attention span. So make sure you're getting to the point, getting the content done. You

know? Don't belabor content topics, you know, to a point where, like, oh my god. Come on. Get to the point. So podcasters understand and adapt to these behavior shifts. Again, I think they're gonna continue to to thrive. And even as the car becomes a less dominant player in the podcasting experience, you still can listen while rolling down the road. I would love to be listening to podcasts on a train as opposed to me sitting in the driver's seat.

That's, you know, that's interesting. When I was, doing the trip back and forth between Chicago and Battle Creek on Amtrak. Yeah. I was that was perfect podcast listening time. Yeah. Exactly. For sure. Well, that's it for today's episode. Thank you for joining us. And as podcasting continues to evolve, remember, it's important to follow the data and meet your listeners where they are. These days, that's often at home.

And whether you're rethinking your release time, experimenting with video, or simply adjusting your format, Blueberry tools can help you stay flexible and, best part, keep growing. Be sure to follow or subscribe to Podcast Insider for more podcasting insights and support from the team at Blueberry. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week. And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com for more information, to subscribe, share, and read our show notes.

To check out the latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com. That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't afford them.