32 million Listened to a Podcast Last Week

Edison Media released a report on the state of podcasting earlier this week.  A few key points:

Should we call it podcasting?  It's really not a great name but in 2006 only 22% had heard the term.  Now, it's at the 50% mark.  It has some ubiquity. Not sure "on-demand" is a better "handle."  

46 million Americans (17% of the population) listen to podcasts monthly.  While it is not truly an apples-to-apples comparison, but worthy of mention, Sirius/XM has 27 million subscribers.  

50% of podcasts are listened to by people 12-34 versus the U.S. population at 36%.  This follows the on-demand arch of television which skews younger as well. 

On a weekly basis, podcasting reaches 10% of the U.S. Population.  That's 32 million.  Way beyond "hobby" level.  

Not surprisingly, podcasting is a mobile experience.  Which does not necessarily mean listening occurs out of the home, but rather occurs via smartphone.  The phone is where the content lives which has major implications for the trajectory of the in-car experience as tethering becomes easier for consumers.  

The report is chock full of other data which supports the ascension of podcasting.  Download it here.