Over a five-year period, the demographics of podcast listeners have shifted in a statistically significant way, according to a new release from Edison Research.
In 2016, the diversity of podcast devotees now more closely mirrors that of the U.S. population today: 63% self-identify as white, 16% as African-American, 12% as Hispanic, 4% as Asian and 5% as “other.” Significantly, the release notes that “the percentage of African-American listeners has not only grown, but also over-indexes from the U.S. population, which is currently around 12%.”
That is a marked difference from 2011, when the breakdown recorded 68% white listeners, 14% African-American, 11% Hispanic, 3% Asian and 4% other. Additionally, when podcasts first came on the scene in 2004, white males, ages 25–44 were the predominant listeners.
Edison speculates that these changes can be credited to the increasing diversity of the content itself — with pods of all genres and subjects now all available. Podcasts are also now available on numerous platforms and devices, as opposed to 2004, when they were limited to users with certain types of devices.
