Annual Study on Podcasting Use in the US

A few weeks ago we reported the first results of the annual Arbitron-Edison Media Research study on Podcasting use in the US. More results have now been published and are available here (pdf).

Its principle findings:

- Awareness of podcasting has stabilized. 37% had ever heard of podcasting, the same percentage as in 2007.

- The audience for both audio and video podcasts has grown considerably since last year. Americans indicating that they have ever downloaded and listened to an audio podcast grew from 13% to 18%, while video podcast consumption grew from 11% to 16%.

- Podcast listeners enjoy additional listening opportunities. The time spent listening to all forms of online audio for podcast listeners is approximately 90 minutes longer per week than it is for other online audio consumers. The portability of podcasts has enabled new contexts and environments for listening to downloadable audio.

- Podcast consumers are extremely attractive advertising targets, though difficult to reach via traditional interruption models. Podcast users are far more likely to have attained at least a college degree, and are also more likely to live in households earning in excess of $75,000 per year, than Americans who have not consumed podcasts. Furthermore, Americans who have watched or listened to a podcast are more frequent online shoppers and spend more money online than other Americans. Podcast listeners and viewers are also far more likely to block pop-up ads, SPAM, and use non-traditional means to view television.

- Podcast consumers are heavily involved with social networking. Over a quarter of persons 12+ who have ever consumed an audio/video podcast have a profile on MySpace, and the percentage of podcast consumers with profiles on other social networking sites is significantly higher than the percentage of non-podcast consumers. Podcast consumers also spend markedly more time on the Internet every day than the average American.

Studies: Podcast Ad Recall Rates Impressive

Advertising during podcasts has been thrust into the limelight, thanks to recently released data from a series of ad effectiveness studies.

Podcast audiences are loyal to their regular hosts and pay attention to the advertisers that support their favorite shows, according to online and podcast show network, Podtrac and TNS.

Podcasts attract niche audiences that are more receptive to the carefully targeted brands being advertised or that are sponsoring their favorite shows. So much so, the average unaided ad recall among Podtrac’s respondents was 68%. Podtrac’s CEO Mark McCrery says this is “considerably higher… than in other offline and online media.” He’s not wrong. Industry benchmarks currently put unaided recall for ads in streaming video at just 21%, mobile ads 20% and television 10%.

Some experts believe that ad recall might not be such a viable measurement of an ad's effectiveness. However, Podtrac's studies showed a "73% increase in likelihood to use or buy an advertised product which is an indication of successful targeting, the unique relationship audience members have with the hosts of today’s online shows, and their ability to quickly move audiences from awareness to consideration to purchase,” said Velvet Beard, Podtrac’s vice president of products.

So what of the future of podcasting? According to eMarketer analyst Paul Verna in his report “Podcast Audience: Seeking Riches in Niches”, the podcasting audience is set to rise 251% to 65 million in 2012. The same goes for spending which will he predicts will rise from last year’s $165 million to $435 million in the next four years.


Courtesy of Helen Leggatt - Bizreport.com

Report: Podcast Growth Continues but Concept Still Poorly Defined

About 11 percent of broadband users in the US, or 12 million consumers, listen to podcasts at least once a month, according to a survey by The Diffusion Group (TDG), a research and professional services firm. 16 percent have listened to a podcast at some point. 54 percent of respondents use a portable device and on average those users listen to 5.4 podcasts per month. Overall 70 percent rely on iTunes to access podcasts.

The report predicts that the number of podcast listeners will swell to 24 percent of broadband users in 2012, or 38.5 million Americans. Yet the report also notes that in spite of the continuous increase of podcast listeners, podcasting is still considered too complex and the quality and quantity of content available for podcast consumption is not estimated.

“Despite the fact that the Oxford University Press selected ‘podcast’ as Word of the Year in 2005, most consumers have a very poor understanding of the medium or the variety of content available for consumption by podcast,” said Dale Gilliam III, author of the report. This lack of understanding, notes Gilliam, is due primarily to the multiplicity of ways in which pundits and marketers have used the term.

“At the end of the day, the way consumers come to understand a new medium such as podcasting will strongly determine the types of experiences and value they attribute to the concept. When those in the business of articulating and promoting this new medium use language inconsistently, the power of the concept to attract and engage users is diluted.”

Study on the impact of podcasting on student learning

'IMPALA - Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation' is a full scale study investigating the impact of Podcasting on student learning. IMPALA is testing how Podcasting can be used for student learning in Higher Education (HE). IMPALA follows a successful pilot that took place in the University of Leicester, that was carried out on 30 students. IMPALA 's partners are: University of Leicester, Royal Veterinary College London, Kingston University and the University of Gloucestershire.

IMPALA arose from an interest in digital audio loaded onto students’ own mobile devices, especially MP3 players such as iPods, which offered platforms for a variety of services with potential impact on learning and teaching in HE. Widespread penetration of broadband internet connections, increasing personal ownership of MP3 players and freely available and easy to use software and internet tools all work in favor of greater use of ‘personal broadcasting’ for content delivery and student engagement. Podcasting and MP3 players are new to education, yet these devices are widely used by the population demographic of which students are a part (22.5% of adults in the 15-24 age group own a digital file player). Podcasting and MP3 players are new to education, yet already widely used by students for entertainment. With the academic community in the UK showing a strong interest in this, IMPALA sought to develop educational models to use in supporting and enhancing students’ motivation and learning through Podcasting.

Research questions in the IMPALA Study:

How does students’ learning supported by Podcasting differ from their learning through structured campus or e-learning processes? For example, does Podcasting assist with student motivation? Is their learning more flexible, easier or successful? What kinds of educational applications can be developed for Podcasting through MP3 players for students’ informal use within formal HE modules that work to enhance their learning? Can students switch from using MP3 players for entertainment to learning? What are the psychological, social and institutional barriers to and advantages of more informal learning using Podcasting? Visit here for more details on the study.

EU Upbeat on Podcasting and Digital Content

The area of digital and interactive content, that includes services like the online radio, digital music, digital video, online and mobile games will reach 8.3 billion euros in 2010, according to a report ordered by the European Commission. In that year, 2.4% of the European population (11 million people) will listen or watch at least one podcast a week, claims the report. The number of broadband users will double in the next three years and the number of people listening to digital radio will reach a penetration of 7%. The report claims that the main obstacle holding back the digitalization of Europe is the penetration of technologies that will allow consumers to access them, such as access to computers and broadband internet, digital television, etc. The issue of rights is cited as being another barrier. However, the study concludes that the development of the digital distribution market will overcome these obstacles.

Canadian Survey on Podcasting

The internet bubble demonstrated that market research and forward-looking adoption rates are the favorite tools of interested parties, who stand to gain in some way by publishing outrageous “uptake” numbers.

The following survey, however, looks at the current status of podcasting in Canada and raises many interesting qualitative points:

1. More than 50% of Canadian listeners are women

2. 59% of Canadian listeners are between the age of 25-44. 85% are older than 24. There appears to be a large group of listeners who do not fall into the “young, early-adopter” category, but who are somewhat older.

3. 77% of Canadians claimed to be familiar or somewhat familiar with the term podcasting.

4. Half of the Top 10 podcasts originate from outside Canada (from the U.S. and UK.). This statistic is consistent with findings in the UK and Australia.

5. 69% of respondents prefer original content that can not be found elsewhere.

6. Almost half the respondents want to listen to their favorite podcast only once a week. 35% preferred podcasts up to 10 minutes long, and 52% preferred podcasts up to 20 minutes long. Only 16% preferred podcasts 30+ minutes long.

7. 66% of listeners are comfortable with hearing one or two ads in a podcast.

The survey was conducted by Sequentia Communications and Caprica Interactive Marketing. The main purpose of the survey was to gain information about the views Canadian adults have on podcasting. This survey was conducted in mid-2006 and 97% of the 928 respondents identified themselves as Canadian. The full survey can be viewed here.