Podcasting is continuing to show strong growth in Australia according to the second annual Podcast Research Survey released by the ABC today.
Both the frequency of listening and time spent listening to podcasts has increased year on year.
The report found podcast awareness is high in Australia, with 89% of adult Australians claiming to be aware of podcasts. More than half of adult Australians have claimed to have tried podcasting, with trial increasing to 76% among 25 – 34-year-olds.
Podcast listeners are highly engaged, claiming to have listened to an average of six podcast episodes and four podcast series per week.
Whilst the home remains the most common location for podcast listening, the report found year on year growth in podcast listening in a car/truck/taxi. Late afternoon and evening remain the most common podcast listening times on a weekday.
The smartphone is increasingly the device most often used for listening to podcasts, at 62% of podcast listeners.
The average time spent listening to a podcast episode is 48 minutes for weekly podcast listeners who commit beyond the first five minutes.
Director of ABC Radio, Michael Mason, said this year’s survey results are not surprising:
“We’ve seen an enormous growth in our own on-demand audio listening with podcasts such as Conversations with Richard Fidler receiving millions of unique downloads each month in addition to the large numbers who tune into his radio program each weekday.
“Our recent true crime hit, Trace, co-produced with ABC News, received more than a million downloads since its release in June. We know there’s a strong appetite for this sort of content thanks to smash hits such as Serial and Trace so we will be releasing more material like this in 2018.”
The results come on the eve of OzPod 2017, the second annual Australian Podcast Conference which has now sold out with podcast, media and broadcast delegates attending from around Australia, New Zealand and North America.
For those who missed out on tickets to OzPod, a digital pop-up station will broadcast the day’s action. Listen in to OzPod Digital via the new ABC Listen app, via ABC Extra on abc.net.au or via DAB+ in your capital city. radioinfo will also cover the conference.
The ABC Podcast Research 2017 was commissioned by ABC Audio Studios and ABC Audience Insights to provide a better understanding of podcast listening behaviour in Australia.