1.6 million Aussies download a podcast each month [report]

Podcast listening has grown 70% since 2015, with over 1.6 million (8.1%) of all Australians (aged 14+) downloading a podcast each month.

A new report from Roy Morgan looks at podcast listening habits down under, with results showing impressive podcast listening growth.

Nearly 700,000 more Aussies are listening to podcasts each month compared with four years ago.

The main area of growth is mobile phone listening, with the number of mobile podcast downloads up by 900,000 (215%) over that same period.

At the same time, podcast downloads to computers have declined slightly, while tablet downloads have risen.

That 1.6 million number is still short of the average number of Aussies visiting Spotify each month (2.2 million), however the increasing number of podcasts on the streaming platform means that the two figures aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

The Roy Morgan Single Source study results came from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week.

“Podcasts are a relatively new part of the media landscape but are making an increasing impact as audiences for the service are on a steady growth track,” says Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.

“The ability to listen to your favourite podcast while commuting to and from work and tuning out from the hustle and bustle on crowded public transport, or just relaxing in your spare time to catch up on what’s been happening in an area of personal interest is appealing to a growing number of Australians.”

Millenials are the most avid podcast-listeners in Australia, making up 40% of all downloaders.

“Driving the growth in podcasts is the convenience of being able to download the podcast directly to your mobile phone which obviously allows you to listen to the service wherever you want,” said Levine.

“Over 1.3 million Australians now download podcasts to their mobile phone in an average four weeks up from only 421,000 in 2015 – a stunning increase of over 215%.”

The full Roy Morgan report is available here.