New research from The Diffusion Group (TDG) claims that 11% of adult broadband users in the US (12 million consumers) listen to podcasts at least once a month.
TDG’s latest report on new media usage,
Podcast Usage Profiles and Demand Forecasts Thru 2012, predicts that by 2012 this number will grow to 24% of broadband users in the US (38.5 million Americans).
TDG identifies two specific factors that are keeping a lid on usage: podcasting continues to be perceived as too complex for average consumers to use, and they remain unaware of the quantity and quality of content available for podcast consumption.
Dale Gilliam III, director of primary research and author of the report, said: “Despite the fact that the Oxford University Press selected ‘podcast’ as Word of The Year in 2005, most consumers have a very poor understanding of the medium or the variety of content available for consumption by podcast.
“At the end of the day, the way consumers come to understand a new medium such as podcasting will strongly determine the types of experiences and value they attribute to the concept. When those in the business of articulating and promoting this new medium use language inconsistently, the power of the concept to attract and engage users is diluted.”
The TDG report also found that among those that listen to podcasts at least once per month, 68% use a portable device while 49% listen to them on a PC.
Recent research from comScore revealed that males represented a significantly larger share (63%) of the podcast download audience on iTunes in the US than females (37%) (see US Males Twice As Likely As Women To Download A Podcast).
eMarketer, meanwhile, issued a forecast stating that US spending on podcast advertising will grow nearly fivefold by 2011 (see US Advertisers To Increase Spending On Podcasts).
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