Nearly half of US listeners prefer video

More podcast listeners in America prefer video with their shows than those who say they would rather go without, according to research conducted by Morning Consultant. 

Among Americans who had listened to a podcast in the past month, 46% said they preferred video, while 42% preferred audio-only. The preference for video skewed towards Gen Z and millennials. 

The most common reasons given by respondents was that they could see facial expressions and reactions, and that video helped them to focus on the podcast. 

According to the survey conducted at the end of October, the preferred platform of podcast listeners was YouTube (33%), followed by Spotify (24%) and Apple (12%).

Fewer new podcasts launched

The number of new podcasts launched has dramatically reduced over the past two years, according to a report from the Verge. 

Citing data drawn from the Listen Notes podcast search engine, the number of new podcasts in 2022 was about 219,000, down from a high of more than a million in 2020. 

This, as the article points out, would have been influenced by the pandemic but is significantly lower than the numbers from 2019 (337k). 

The Listen Notes figures also reveal that while there have already been more than 7,000 podcasts launched in 2023, the total for the month is likely to fall well short of the 23,903 launched in January 2022. 

Spotify closing in on 5 million shows

Spotify has claimed to have 4.7 million podcast titles. 

In a press release giving notice of its financial results for the final quarter of 2022 (which will be posted on January 31), the Swedish company describes itself as “the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with a community of more than 456 million Monthly Active Users”. 

In a similar press release on October 3, the number of podcast titles was given as 4.4 million. One year ago, the number given was 3.2 million.