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According to a survey conducted in the United States in 2026, around ** percent of respondents aged 35 to 54 years old had listened to a podcast within the preceding month, compared to ** percent of those aged 55 or above. Adults in the latter age category have been increasing their podcast listening consistently for years.

Podcasts are gaining popularity

This increased monthly podcast consumption shows the growing prevalence of the format in the United States. A survey on podcast consumption found that in 2012 only ** percent of U.S. respondents had ever listened to an audio podcast, but this figure increased annually and reached ** percent in 2025, by then also including video podcast consumption. Although this rise in popularity is significant, it might also reflect the generational gap in podcast consumption, with younger consumers tuning in more regularly than their older counterparts. In 2023, the share of Millennial weekly podcast consumers in the U.S. amounted to ** percent, with Boomers only making up ** percent.

Video podcasts

The recently rising popularity of video podcasts also led to changes in platform usage among podcast consumers. YouTube has taken over the lead from Spotify as the main platform used to access podcasts in the United States as of April 2023, when the streaming platform attracted ** percent of podcast consumers, compared to ** percent for the Swedish competitor. YouTube's newly achieved competitive position in podcasting becomes even more obvious, when considering that almost ** weekly podcast consumers associated the platform the most with watching and listening to podcasts. Only ** percent said the same about Spotify.