Edison Research recently completed and published the results of a year-long survey entitled “Sounds Profitable: The Creators – The People Behind the Podcasts.” It is the podcasting industry’s first credible data on the people who make podcasts. Today we’re going to review it and comment on the results of the survey.

Watch our video presentation on YouTube and subscribe for more great content

Edison Research Survey of Podcasters

Brand new research was just released from Edison Research.

Learn more and get your own copy of the slides at https://soundsprofitable.com/article/the-creators-us-2022

We are excited to present these statistics and give you our input about what they mean for us and for you as a podcaster.

Edison Research always produces top-notch research when it comes to the podcasting industry.

We have some opinions on the matter of the 45-plus group. We think of ourselves as 55 plus, but we still fall into the 45-plus age group. One of their observations was that the 45-plus age group is underrepresented in podcasting. Meaning there are very few creators that are 45 plus. Therefore, they feel that the 45-plus audience is underserved when it comes to podcasting.

All these statistics were gathered from quarters 2, 3, and 4 of 2021 and quarter one of 2022. 

Sounds Profitable Research Study: People Behind The Podcasts

Toby: Having worked as a consultant for a research company, I can tell you that when a company like this conducts this kind of research, they look for sponsors to pay for the research so that they can do a credible job. 

This looks like a well-funded project.

I was really impressed with the number and quality of sponsors on the project.

They proclaim that this is the podcast industry’s first credible data on the people who make podcasts. 

The data is derived from Edison podcast metrics, a continuously sampled online survey of weekly podcast consumers weighted to demographics from Infinite Dial. 

It’s a sample of 617 weekly podcast listeners, 18 plus, who currently produce or have ever produced a podcast. 

These are podcast listeners who also create podcasts.

The data was collected over a longer timeframe, most of four quarters, so it can change over the course of the data collection. The data is sampled from weekly podcast listeners and not less frequent or lapsed listeners. 

That means one of the first questions they asked was, how often do you listen to podcasts?

They focused on those whose answer was I listen to podcasts at least weekly. 

In the US population, the division between men and women is 49% men and 51% women.

A sampling of the US population versus the population of podcast creators according to gender.

Compare that to podcast creators, which is 69% men, 29% women, and 2% non-binary or other, or those who did not choose to answer.

Toby: What surprised me was the number of men who are podcasters versus women. I’ve always believed that podcasting is a great way for anyone to amplify their voice. But since women’s voices tend to be under-amplified just by the nature of media, I felt like podcasting would be a great way for them to amplify their voices.

I don’t know where this statistic was five years ago. So, it may have increased. I’m going to guess that in the last five years it’s grown, but I still feel like women are underrepresented in the podcasting community and women have a lot to say. 

I’d like to see more women in the community. We don’t necessarily target women as our clients, but we’re always happy when we can help women and non-binary individuals move forward with their podcasting or live streaming.

The US population for age ranges is pretty even between all the different ages.

Starting with 18 to 24 at 13%, age 25 to 34 at 18%, age 35 to 44 at 18%, age 45 to 54 at 19%, and age 55 to 64 at 16%. Age 65 and older is 16%.

As we know, the retirement community is growing.

Gen Z is a smaller subset of the population. 

Nearly 90% of podcast creators are between the ages of 18 and 44. 

This is that same percentage that makes up less than half the US population. 

Our group, the age 55 plus, is 2% of the podcast creators’ population. 

Ethnicity in the United States

Ethnicity in the United States is 63% white, 13% African American, 14% Hispanic/Latino, 5% Asian, and other, or did not categorize, was 5%.

Podcast creators are more diverse because the white population is 51%, which is still a lot. A little over half of the podcasters are white. But the Hispanic/Latino group is quite large. It’s 24%, which is more than their percentage of the population. So that has really grown over the last few years.

African American podcasters register at 14%, Asian is at 5%, and other is at 6%. We’re getting more and more diverse in the podcasting community, which is really wonderful.

I’m assuming this is the 2020 census where African Americans represent 13% of the US population. In the 2010 census, they represented 17%. That is not because there are fewer African Americans. That is because the Hispanic/Latino population is increasing as a percentage. 

In 2010, the US population was just under 300 million. In 2020, we’re at 340 million and we have a higher percentage of the Hispanic/Latino demographic.

They are represented a little higher as well in the podcast creators group.

Toby: Being Hispanic/Latino, I was very pleased to see that this Hispanic/Latino demographic was over sampling. They only represent 14% of the total US population, but 24% of the podcast creators.

I think they’ve done a lot in that community to raise awareness of podcasting.

I don’t feel like the Hispanic/Latino statistic is a matter of economics. I think they really have used podcasting to amplify their voices. 

Education statistics in the US population

Education statistics in the US population show that 42% are high school graduates or less and 29% have some college, 19% have earned a four-year college degree, 7% have some graduate credits and 3% have an advanced degree.

In terms of the US population, when you add together some college, four-year degrees, some graduate credits, and advanced degrees, you’re talking about 55% of the population who have earned credits beyond high school.

But when you see it in terms of podcast creators, 90% of the podcasters’ population is represented by some college, four-year college, or advanced degrees. 

Advanced degree-earning podcasters register at 40%. It’s overwhelming in terms of the population.

I think a lot of that has to do with self-confidence. If you have an advanced degree, you’re likely to be more confident in yourself and do things that are on the leading edge of technology such as podcasting.

If you’re graduating from high school this year, there’s a very good chance you are familiar with the technologies associated with podcasting because they’re so common. 

These kids have that technology and I’m going to expect what we see in high school will continue to grow and add as they go through their college careers. I think that’s a good indication of its growth through education. 

Employment Among Podcasters

Podcasters who are employed full time is 73%. Part-time is 7%. Temporarily Unemployed is 7%. Homemaker is 3%. Retired is 2%. Designated as a student is 4% and other is 4%.

That 55-plus demographic that is sampling so small shows up in the retired category. 

It is good to see that even though people are employed full-time, 73% can still manage to produce a podcast. 

They’re turning it into their avocation or hobby and making time for it.

If your hobby is trout fishing, and you’re very familiar with the subject matter, it’s pretty easy to put a podcast together. Especially if you have lots of friends who are fisher people because you have a constant stream of guests to talk over the subject. 

The implication is if you have a little time on your hands, you’ve got time to create a podcast. The technology is available to you, but if you’re working full time you can probably afford to pay somebody to edit.

Income of the US population

The income of the US population starts with under $25,000 at 24%, and $25,000 to $49,999 is 24%. So that’s half the population making under $50,000 a year.

Then you have $50,000 to $74,999, at 18%. $75,000 to just under $100,000 is 12%. $100,000 to $149,999 is 12%, and $150,000 or more is 10%. 

About half of employed people in the US are considered on the lower end of the income spectrum. Some may be part-time employees or gig workers.

There are two things to note here about podcast creators: 12% of the podcast creators make under $25,000 a year. That’s a similar percentage to the 13% of those making an income of $150,000 or more. 

That is an indication that podcasting is a great equalizer.

Read more...