Hey, this is Tom Webster for Sounds Profitable for Wednesday, February 5th, 2025. Regarding reach and the business-minded audience. But first, On Air Fest is approaching fast. And if you read that quickly like I did, that's On Air Fast is approaching fast. If you've not secured your tickets for three days of podcasting, frivolity, merriment, education,
and enlightenment descending on Williamsburg in Brooklyn, now is the time. This year's on-air fest roster includes Anderson Cooper, Bon Iver, and Seth Meyers, hopefully not performing together. You might even catch one of Sounds Profitable's own at the event covering the business side of podcasting. I'll be there, Brian will be there, and Gavin will be there covering all of the festivities for On Air Fest in Brooklyn.
Grab your tickets if you haven't already. There'll be a link in the show notes. Well, it's a two for Wednesday today. This week, what we learned about the audience for business podcasts from our recent collaboration with American Public Media. And we've also provided a handy one-sheet infographic that gives you
all of the essential details of this unique segment that'll be linked in the show notes. But first, I want to take a quick look at podcasting and how it compares to some other ad supported platforms, namely social media and online video. I posted this data on our website this week, and I just want to outline it very briefly here. And this is taken from the podcast landscape, which is our significant reports, the largest publicly available report in podcasting.
Over 5,000 Americans, 18 plus. And one of the things that we asked them were just simple monthly usage questions about podcasting, which is at 53% with Americans 18 plus. But we also asked a whole host of social and video platforms, and I'll just run through some of what we asked. First, leading the pack here, Facebook and YouTube are used by 80% of adults in this country, Instagram 57, and then podcasting.
Behind podcasting, Instagram Reels, TikTok at 41, X at 32, Snapchat, Reddit, Discord at 15, Twitch at 12, and then Threads and Telegram at the end with 10. Well, here's a fun thing to ponder. The U.S. podcasting market in 2023 was about $1.9 billion, according to the IAB. about 140 million adults 18 plus every month, or as I mentioned, 53% of the 18 plus population. Well, I asked my old friend perplexity to give me the advertising revenues from 2023.
for several leading platforms. Now, perplexity is not perfect, but it was a consistent methodology to find decent numbers. So I went with these. And keep in mind, again, podcasting generated 1.9 billion. So Facebook in that same year, 131.9 billion. Instagram, 61.1. YouTube, 31.5. TikTok, 16 billion. And now we're talking about platforms that are smaller than podcasting's reach. Snapchat, 4.6. X, 3.3. I'd say Elon fumbled the bag on that one. Twitch, 2.8. Reddit, about 788 million.
And Discord did not generate significant ad revenue, but I know that they're ramping that up. Now that puts podcasting somewhere between Twitch and Reddit in terms of ad revenue. The graph and the data that I've just talked about shows how podcasting compares in usage to those platforms. It reaches significantly more humans. Now, I've talked before about how podcasting punches below its weight in terms of its share of ad-supported audio.
But these are the budgets we really need to question. Of course, it's a lot easier to buy Facebook ads, and we've got to work on that as an industry. Inertia is the enemy. This is an imperative problem to solve. because podcasting has some of the most valuable audiences in all of ad-supported media, not the least of which is the audience for business podcasts. When I first started measuring podcasting nearly 20 years ago,
Business content was something of a niche within a niche, a niche niche, mostly tech entrepreneurs talking to other tech entrepreneurs about entrepreneurship. Today, the business podcast consumer represents a fascinating and distinct segment. of podcast listeners that deserves our attention, especially if you're trying to reach an affluent, educated, and highly engaged audience. As part of the Sounds Profitable educational series,
We took a look at that audience in a webinar a couple of weeks ago, and thank you to our partners at American Public Media for supporting that effort. Let me give you one stat that crystallizes why this audience matters. 53% of Americans listen to podcasts every month. 15% of that 53% specifically seek out business content. Now, that might not sound like much, but remember, we aren't talking about true crime or comedy here. And what's more, they aren't casual listeners.
A whopping 78% of monthly business podcast consumers are weekly listeners, spending over seven hours a week. That's a significant investment of time. And it speaks to something... I've long observed about podcast listeners. When they find content that serves their goals, they make it a habit. We're talking about a genre that is fundamentally about professional development and education, which is why they're twice as likely
as podcast consumers in general, to also listen to self-improvement and health and fitness podcasts. Furthermore, the number two reason that this audience chooses to listen to podcasts as a medium period is specifically for business news and information. The fact that millions of Americans actively choose to learn about business through podcasting tells us something important about both the medium and this audience.
But here's what really caught my attention. The majority of business podcast consumers, 56%, are more likely to try a podcast produced with corporate or brand involvement. Well, this stands in stark contrast to what we often hear about advertising turning off listeners. For this audience, corporate sponsorship is actually a positive signal. It suggests credibility and relevance.
The implications here for both creators and advertisers are clear. If you're creating business content, you're speaking to an audience that is intentionally seeking knowledge and professional growth. They're not just passing time, they're investing it. And if you're advertising to this audience, you're reaching people who are predisposed to see your brand presence as additive to their experience and not intrusive.
This is the kind of insight that makes me bullish about podcasting's future. While we talk a lot about growing the overall audience for podcasting, perhaps we should spend more time understanding these passionate niches. or niches as we say here in the states where podcasting isn't just entertainment it's an essential tool for personal and professional growth at the very least it's something to think about during your next commute
along with 7.2 hours of business podcasts, apparently. For more on this, check out the complete report and webinar for The Business Podcast Consumer from Sounds Profitable and American Public Media. We'll link to that in the notes. And the business podcast consumer is derived from the podcast landscape 2024, which again is America's largest publicly available study of podcast listening. The podcast landscape was produced in partnership with American public media.
NPR, ESPN Podcasts, BetterHelp, Wondery, SXM Media, Paramount, and Libsyn, along with our research partner, Signal Hill Insights. Thanks again for listening to this week's podcast regarding reach and the business-minded audience. I'm Tom Webster, and I'll see you next time.