May 1st, 2024, Clifton Mark
Where are people listening to podcasts in 2024? New podcast listener stats from YouGov break down 47 global markets to show where in the world people listen to podcasts regularly. Of all consumers polled, 40% say they listen to podcasts for more than an hour per week, with 10% listening more than 10 hours per week.
The map below shows the proportion of regular podcast listeners, meaning consumers in each country who say they spend one or more hours listening to podcasts per week.
Asia-Pacific
APAC markets are enjoying a high level of podcast listenership. Five markets (Indonesia, Thailand, India, Vietnam and the Philippines) have above-average proportions of regular podcast listeners. Indonesia, at 57%, and Thailand, at 52% lead the region. Japan, however, is an outlier. Only 10% of Japanese consumers listen to an hour of podcasts per week or more.
Europe
Of the 22 European markets polled, only Romania (47%) has significantly more podcast listeners that the average of all consumers. Spain and Sweden are about average at 41%, while countries such as Belgium (21%) and the Netherlands (24%) have smaller shares of regular podcast listeners. Great Britain is also well below average with only 26% saying they spend an hour a week listening.
Latin America
Nearly half of Mexicans (48%) are regular podcast listeners, and an additional 11% listen for more than ten hours per week. Brazilians are slightly less avid, at 44%, as are Colombians at 37%. Argentines lag further behind , with only 29% listening to at least an hour of podcasts per week.
Middle East and Africa
Podcasters are finding friendly ears in this region. South Africa is home to the highest proportion of regular podcast listeners of any market surveyed, at 68%. Saudi Arabia is second overall at 59%. Egypt (56%), UAE (53%) and Morocco (45%) are also all above-average. Only Lebanon, at 31%, falls below the overall proportion of regular podcast listeners.
North America
Americans, who were responsible for much of the early development of the medium, listen at an average rate of 39%. Canadians, however, have been slower to adopt podcasts. Only 31% of them listen more than one hour per week.
Data from YouGov Global Profiles shows that while podcasting is a truly global medium, it has achieved uneven penetration across markets. This data shows where podcasting is currently most influential and also where it has the most potential for growth.
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Methodology: YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 47 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 18+ years in Great Britain, the US, Australia, India and the UAE. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always c.1000. Data from each market in this piece uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles