Listeners aged between 55 and 65 have shown the most growth in podcast consumption compared to other demographics, according to a new study from Spotify Advertising, up by 65% year on year globally.
The audio giant published its Podcast Trends report this week, which highlights growing podcast trends, based on Spotify podcast listening, search, and social media data collected from Q3 2022 until Q2 2023.
In the US, the study showed that half of listeners aged 55 and above were listening to podcasts. It’s important to note that the report only considers data from Spotify users, as Edison Research and NPR’s report into the same broad demographic, released in April this year, showed that more than 95% of US adults aged 55 and above did not listen to podcasts.
The report also showed growth in listeners aged 55 and above across several global markets, including the UK, up by 85%; Australia, up by 65%; Canada, up by 58%; and in Europe, up by nearly 90% across Germany, Spain, France, and Italy. Advertisers can tap into part of this demographic by advertising on parenting podcasts, which have shown the most growth amongst other subcategories, going up by 88% year on year.
Other subcategories that have shown growth include business and technology news, sports podcasts including cycling and baseball, self-improvement shows, and more. Celebrity podcasts also grew in popularity, up by 60% year on year, as more listeners continued to tune into talent-driven shows due to cultural moments such as the Met Gala, according to the report.
Advertisers should keep an eye on which podcasts are at the forefront of pop culture trends and topics, the report indicated, highlighting a spike in streams during certain cultural moments. Barbie-related podcast content, for example, saw a 967% increase week-over-week in global listening when the movie released globally on 21 July, and podcasts such as The Big Picture, which featured an interview with the movie’s director Greta Gerwig, saw a 215% increase in first-run listeners.
“Today, podcasts are a key driver of social and cultural conversations,” said Spotify's global head of advertising business development and partnerships Emma Vaughn. “They extend cultural discussions, start new ones and provide connections in a world where people are seeking an alternative to headline-skimming and surface-level social media posting.”
“They want to dive deeper and discover more about culture, the world and themselves, so they turn to this authentic, audio-led format.”
