Eyes Are Optional
Apr 22, 2026•8 min•Ep. 862
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Episode description
What platforms record and what podcast consumers are actually doing can be two different things.
New research from Edison Research introduces "Audio Primes" — the 22% of podcast consumers who listen to 75% or more of their podcasts as audio — finding that this segment skews younger, more educated, and higher-earning than the average podcast listener, upending common assumptions about who chooses audio-first consumption. Ninety percent of Audio Primes use YouTube for podcast listening, but predominantly as audio infrastructure with screens off or minimized, revealing a significant gap between video platform metrics and actual podcast listening behavior.
- Written by Tom Webster
- Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis
- Text and audio edited by Gavin Gaddis
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