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Americans Listen to Podcasts More Than Talk Radio Now, Study Shows (techcrunch.com) 36

Posted by EditorDavid from the talk-is-cheap dept.
"Podcasts have officially overtaken AM/FM talk radio as the more popular medium for spoken-word audio in the United States," reports TechCrunch, citing Edison Research's Share of Ear survey: The researchers have tracked these statistics over the last decade, and almost always, the percentage of time people spent listening to podcasts increased, while their time with spoken radio broadcasts decreased. For the first time this year, podcasts eclipsed spoken-word radio with 40% of listening time, as opposed to 39% for radio...

We checked with Edison to see if these statistics include video podcasts, and they do. But the need to clarify that question points to the undeniable growing prevalence of video podcasts, hosted on platforms like Spotify and YouTube, which marks another key trend in podcasting... YouTube said that viewers watched 700 million hours of podcasts each month in 2025 on living room devices, like TVs, up from 400 million the previous year.
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Americans Listen to Podcasts More Than Talk Radio Now, Study Shows More

Americans Listen to Podcasts More Than Talk Radio Now, Study Shows

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  • Ads (Score:3)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Sunday March 01, 2026 @02:53PM (#66017006)

    Ads can be skipped on podcasts. Not so much on broadcast radio which is mostly ads now.

    • That's one of the reasons why I stopped listening. Maybe five minutes of "talk" then 5-8 minutes of commercials and sometimes it'd even be back to back; eight minutes of commercials, 30 seconds of filler, another eight minutes of commercials. I have better things to do.
  • By right wing extremists and has been for at least 15 or 20 years. The only exception has been NPR and that's getting slashed by the current administration.

    So if you're not somebody who craves more Rush Limbaugh then yeah talk radio is pretty freaking worthless to you.

    A lot of times I hear people on the right wing complain about late night TV ignoring the fact that you guys have Sinclair media and literally every single radio station in the country. Honestly I think it's why FM radios weren't taken
    • Honestly I think it's why FM radios weren't taken out of cars.

      This is the reason, but for AM. FM is mostly commercials for slip-and-fall attorneys/pain clinics/check cashing places, with the occasional music. AM is where all the hard-core right-wing stuff is and that's why it's now required to be in vehicles (the same way airbags and seat belts are).
      • Yeah you're right I meant I AM not FM thanks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        This is the reason, but for AM. FM is mostly commercials for slip-and-fall attorneys/pain clinics/check cashing places, with the occasional music. AM is where all the hard-core right-wing stuff is and that's why it's now required to be in vehicles (the same way airbags and seat belts are).

        No, AM was required before Trump came in. The reason was EV makers wanted to ditch AM because it was hard to make an AM radio work in an EV due to interference. The cure is, and always was, shielding. Even if the EV makers

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by kenh ( 9056 )

          Getting rid of AM reception wasn't a cost saving measure, it was the result of poorly shielded electronics in an EV swamping out the receiver.

          No, it was a cost-saving measure - shielding and the engineering behind it to make it work costs money, money that could be saved if car radios didn't have to cover the AM broadcast bands.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by kenh ( 9056 )

      Wow, so much to tear into here:

      By right wing extremists and has been for at least 15 or 20 years. The only exception has been NPR and that's getting slashed by the current administration.

      The Left wing tried to compete, but Air America imploded, dramatically, and in front of a documentary film crew - see "Left of the Dial"

      So if you're not somebody who craves more Rush Limbaugh then yeah talk radio is pretty freaking worthless to you.

      You know Rush Limbaugh is dead, right?

      A lot of times I hear people on the right wing complain about late night TV ignoring the fact that you guys have Sinclair media and literally every single radio station in the country.

      Uh, you mean "literally every NON-SPORTS TALK radio station, right, which is actually a small subset of all the stations in a given market. There are many, many music stations, ethnic stations, NPR, college stations, etc. news talk radio is a minority of the stations, but they can be among the most profita

  • I stopped listening to talk radio in it's early days because I reallized what an a55hole it was making me. Plus a lot going on in my personal life I needed to focus on. I didn't notice how much of my life that hate radio was starting to take up until I noticed it in my best friend. So started back listening to music in my car and on the radio at night, and even parted ways with my best friend because it turned him into a different person. My life became so much better with music back in my life full time. Today I do watch video podcasts, don't like audio only podcasts. There are so many to choose from and I mainly listen to music podcast that will get into current events now and then. I also watch a little of the video radio shows because with internet I can pickup shows from all over the country and they are short capsules to the full shows. I was watching the full lenght podcast and they were getting longer and longer so even those I just watch the edited short of. I also don't get into any of these with friends so when with them we just talk like old friends. I think people let these show over take them without realizing it and they become addicted to them. There is enough stuff going on just reading the news so why pile on more, get back to enjoying the other things in life you used to do.

    • Choose from what? Is there a general list of them? How do you find new ones? Just random searches on google or praying YouTube recommends you one?

  • Breaking News: Technology Changes The Way People Do Things, film at 11

    Also Breaking News: Horseless Carriages Seen On Main Street!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ranton ( 36917 )

      No one is surprised people have moved away from the radio. But it's still important to track the progress. It has significant impact on marketing and other investments. It would be wrong to think no one is still listening to radio just because there are options many people feel are objectively better.

  • Coast2CoastAM is all over the AM broadcast band and George Noory is the host to many varied carpetbaggers peddling snakeoil with implausible and ridiculous stories that defy logic so bad it is cringeworthy, I usually listen to kxo1070 in Los Angeles at night because it isn't politics and it isn't coast2coast
    • I usually listen to kxo1070 in Los Angeles at night...

      If so, you're picking up signals from an alternate Earth. KXO broadcasts from El Centro, but not on 1070; what you're listening to is KNX [wikipedia.org], a Clear Channel station and one of the oldest radio stations in the USA.
      • Yeah, I mixed up the call signs kxo el Centro 1230 plays oldies music, 1070 knx in LA is what I meant, I listen to both stations I live in the desert not far from El Centro so I can get both stations
  • I tried to get into podcasts, but most of them are just so friggin irritating. They're largely just two or more windbags talking, cracking inside jokes and going off on completely irrelevant personal stories and trying to make you feel like you're there and part of the conversation. Problem is, "trying" is the operative word - none of it is real and the whole thing sits in the uncanny valley of fake authenticity. There was one podcast about the history of a company I worked for - yes, it was remarkably well
    • Find podcasts that aren't just two talking heads yammering about politics. I subscribe to a lot of podcasts, to the point that I've had to cut down on the subscription list since I no longer commute two hours a day and started getting ten months behind in my playlist. A few of them are two people talking about that day's topic, but it's not like listening to two drunks in a bar arguing about something. They're all non-fiction topics, and I can easily hit the button to skip forward 30 seconds when an ad c

    • You want information from podcasts? I'd rather read to learn.
      Podcasts are my entertainment, and the most reliable treatment for insomnia I've ever found.

      • I'd rather read as well, but I do a fair amount of driving so the audio option becomes appealing. NPR is generally a reasonable option but some of the local radio shows aren't relevant to me, so it can be hit or miss. RadioLab is pretty legit, though sometimes the sound effects and overexplaining can be a bit much. Still, it's pretty alright. I guess I could always just put on the podcast version of the radio shows I already like? I've learned to tune out the call-to-action to do that (or to follow them on

  • How do most people search through available podcasts? It’s not like there’s a general list like a tv guide. It’s all word of mouth or stumbling upon one during a YouTube recommendation. I feel like this is a major negative in podcast discovery and democratization of information.

    • How do most people search through available podcasts? It’s not like there’s a general list like a tv guide. It’s all word of mouth or stumbling upon one during a YouTube recommendation. I feel like this is a major negative in podcast discovery and democratization of information.

      I think you're right.

      I use the Pocket Casts app, which does have several categories of recommendation: Trending, You Might Like, Award Winning, etc. But in my case, most of the podcast I listen to are the result of searching on a specific topic. For example I might search for history podcasts and be presented with a selection that I can then whittle down based on whether they appeal to me, and whether they have good reviews. Finally, I might pick out an episode or two and listen. If it passes that test I'll

  • That came up a few times here on /., regulators and politicians wanting to mandate that cars sold in the US must have AM radios so they could receive emergency broadcasts. My expectation was this was much more about preserving talk radio than emergencies.

    If podcasts replace talk radio, will we see a mandate to include a 5G radio and Spotify subscription with each new car?

    (Obligatory plug: listen to Bay Curious [baycurious.org] for all sorts of fun stories about the SF Bay Area!)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kenh ( 9056 )

      If podcasts replace talk radio, will we see a mandate to include a 5G radio and Spotify subscription with each new car?

      It's hard to find a new car without cellular voice/data built-in, and streaming apps are very, very common in new cars - you don't need a government mandate to include something that's popular/desired by the auto-buying public.

  • People are not listening to rigidly-programmed, radio broadcasts and instead opting to listen to a podcast on something they are interested in anytime/anywhere they might be?

    I can't understand the attraction? LOL!

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