Are podcasts overestimated as platform for news?
Podcasts seems to be a less important source for news than many have anticipated, a new survey from Pew Research Centre shows with only 7% of US adults saying they often get news via podcasts. Podcasting has grown dramatically over the last few years with many news and social media seeing it as a growth area like Spotify that recently faced a conflict around podcast star Joe Rogan.
”The share of Americans who say they often get news from a podcast is quite small – at just 7% – compared with about twice as many adults (16%) who say they sometimes get news from podcasts. At the same time, more than half of Americans (56%) say they never get news from podcasts”, Pew report says adding the optimistic conclusion that this suggests there is still quite a lot of growth potential for this nascent industry.
The report says the numbers are relatively stable compared with those reported in 2020.
The survey was made in July 2021 so not affected by the discussions about the importance of mass vaccination against covid in the Spotify podcast hosted by Rogan.
Younger adults are more likely than older adults to at least sometimes get news from podcasts. One-in-three adults ages 18 to 29 say they at least sometimes get news from podcasts, compared with 12% of adults 65 and older. About three-in-ten adults ages 30 to 49 (29%) get news from podcasts at least sometimes; nearly one-in-five adults ages 50 to 64 (18%) say they do the same.
Men and women get news from podcasts at similar rates (25% and 21%, respectively).
”Those with more formal education and higher incomes are more likely to get news at least sometimes from podcasts. U.S. adults with at least a college degree, for instance, are more likely to get news at least sometimes from podcasts than those with a high school education or less (28% vs. 17%, respectively).”
The report says there are few differences across racial and ethnic groups. That is also true when it comes to political affiliation.
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