The demand for podcasts has grown significantly over the past few years, with more people than ever listening on a daily basis. Not only are podcasts an easy and digestible form of media, but it’s often easy to multitask while listening to them. According to Podcast Insights, 51% of the population have listened to a podcast, 49% of which is done at home, and another 22% of listening is done in the car.
We were lucky enough to have Charlie Gunningham and Beth Caniglia in the studio as they recorded Startup West, a podcast produced by Startup News, interviewing West Australian startups who have been there and done it, or are right here and doing it. We were able to discuss the future of podcasts as well as how individuals are consuming this new form of media.
Charlie begins by sharing his thoughts on the trends rapid rise. “I see the future of podcasts continuing. There are over 660,000 podcasts out there, over half a million active shows, in 100 languages. Over half of the US population listens to podcasts, with the average person listening to 7 episodes a week.”
With a growing number of households tuning into podcasts on all types of subjects, in every imaginable genre, there is ripe opportunity to engage a captive audience. He continues, “The key demographic is between ages 18-34, and it’s an audience advertisers find hard to reach.”
By leveraging a different medium, audio, podcasting provides a new way to spread content, thought leadership and influence to an large audience. With the split between men and women listeners being relatively even, 44% are women and 56% are men, it’s easy to see this is a growing trend amongst consumers.
Tied to the era of smart phones, podcasts are as accessible as any form of social media. Charlie says “Podcasts are now making a huge come back and are really the modern day version of blogging. You can be doing something else and listen. Plus, you can learn so much - there are a gazillion pods out there, on any topic under the sun.”
Australia’s first Podcasting Intelligence Report revealed that podcasting has become the fastest-growing on-demand audio medium with 3.5 million listeners aged 16-64. That means one in four people in that age bracket consume podcasts. 21% of current listeners are listening to more podcasts than they did 12 months ago.
So, if you’re not listening to a podcast, chances are the person next to you is.
Here are some of our favourite startup and tech podcasts:
• StartUp by Gimlet Media
• RateIt by Spacecubed member Michael Momsen
• Master of Scale by Reid Hoffman
• Charlie Gunningham and Beth Caniglia’s Startup West
Podcast Studio at Riff
Available now for both members and non-members, our Podcast Studio is up and running! With modern amenities and great quality recording equipment, we offer the perfect CBD location for all podcast hosts. If you'd like to book the space to record your podcast, please contact info@spacecubed.com.
