Podcast Downloading In The US On The Rise
More and more people in the US are downloading podcasts, but few of them stay with the method, according to new research.
The survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found 12% of US people online had downloaded a podcast, compared to earlier this year when a survey by the same group found that just 7% of online Americans had downloaded a show.
Despite the growth, however, just 1% of respondents said that they would download a podcast on a typical day, which was the same for the February survey.
“While podcast downloading is still an emerging activity primarily enjoyed by early adopters, the range of content now available speaks to both mainstream and niche audiences,” said Mary Madden, senior research specialist at Pew.
“We are at a crossroads of a major transition in the way media content is delivered and consumed.”
Recent research published by Guardian Newspapers suggested that two-thirds of internet users in the UK were not willing to pay for podcasts (see UK Internet Users Won’t Pay For Podcasts), whilst recent research from Nielsen/NetRatings revealed that a third (35%) of Brits have heard of podcasting but don’t know what it is, whilst a quarter (23%) have never heard of it (see Digital Consumers Revealed In New Research).
Pew Internet and American Life Project: www.pewinternet.org