About 9 million US web users (6% of US adults) have downloaded a podcast in the past 30 days, according to the new research, The Economics of Podcasting, a report released today by Nielsen Analytics, part of VNU’s Media Measurement & Information Group.
The survey, carried out at Nielsen Entertainment Television testing facilities in Las Vegas, included more than 1700 participants, who were questioned about their podcast habits.
About 6% of respondents said that they were regular podcast downloaders, of whom more than 75% were male. About 38% of active podcast downloaders said that they are listening to the radio less often.
A recent study from Arbitron and Edison Media Research said that 11% of Americans have listened to a podcast (see Internet Pushes Radio Forward).
The research reveals that the most successful podcasts are garnering as many as two million downloads a month, which is enabling them to attract mainstream advertising.
Overall, 60% of respondents surveyed said they “always” fast forward past commercials in their podcasts. Women were more likely to fast forward than men, with 67% saying they “always fast forward.”
Because of the ability to skip advertisements, advertisers have begun to embed their messages within the programme or, alternatively, have paid podcast hosts to endorse their products and services.
The average length of podcasts being downloaded, according to the findings, is 44 minutes, although Nielsen says that this may change as video podcasts become more popular as they are generally shorter than audio podcasts.
Some 72% of respondents who are regular podcast downloaders say they download an average of one to three podcasts per week. The research says that about 10% of all podcast downloaders could be characterized as “heavy users”, downloading 8 or more podcasts per week.
One of the key findings of the research is that podcasts, in much the same way as blogs, are being used by a broad range of businesses and corporations, with, for example, cable and broadcast networks converting episodes of some of their programmes into short audio and video podcasts to serve as previews and promotions.
Larry Gerbrandt, general manager and senior vice president of Nielsen Analytics, said: “The incredible popularity of podcasting is the latest demonstration of consumers’ willingness to take control of their media experiences.”
He added: “While essentially still in nascent form, podcasts offer free audio and video content that is inexpensive to create, easy to access and on a portable platform that has already reached mass distribution. This exciting new medium has only just begun to stretch its legs.”
Research released by Forrester Research in April said that just 1% of online households in North America regularly download and listen to podcasts (see Podcasting To Reach 12.3 Million By 2010).
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