Podcasts have a growing role in news consumption, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. It finds that about half of Americans have listened to a podcast in the past year, and one in five of those listeners say they listen to a podcast nearly every day. While Pew says Americans turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning, and simply to have something to listen to while doing something else, most listeners say that news is at least a part of their experience with podcasts.
The Pew findings show among U.S. podcast listeners – those who have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months – 29% say that staying up to date about current events is a major reason they listen to podcasts. Two-thirds of podcast listeners say they have heard news discussed on the podcasts they listen to – amounting to a third of all U.S. adults.
Two-thirds of adults who have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months say they have been exposed to at least some news through a podcast. It is not just through daily news podcasts either. In its report, Pew says many podcast listeners hear the news through one or more of three different types of news-related formats. About half or more of podcast listeners listen to a podcast that explains a topic in the news in depth (57%), features a host or hosts offering their opinions about issues in the news (53%), or summarizes the major news stories of the day (51%).
No matter the format, only one in five podcast listeners say they listen to podcasts connected to a news organization, such as a radio station or TV network. Instead, six in ten (59%) say that as far as they know, they don’t listen to any podcasts connected to a news organization. Pew says that suggests that much of the news people are exposed to on podcasts could be coming from nontraditional sources.
Podcast news listening may still be a relatively limited media habit, but among those who hear news on podcasts, nearly nine-in-ten (87%) expect that news to be mostly accurate, and most say they trust it about as much as the news they get from other sources. Just 15% say they trust the news they get from podcasts less than the news they get from other sources.
But what is considered news is also much more loosely defined by podcast listeners, with many considering shows that feature a host’s opinions as news content. Americans are also seeking out content that confirms their beliefs, not challenges them.
Among all podcast listeners, 54% say they at least sometimes listen to podcasts that include hosts’ or guests’ political opinions, including a quarter of listeners who say they extremely or fairly often hear this type of content. An additional 23% say they rarely hear this type of commentary. The rest (22%) say they never hear political opinions on the podcasts they listen to.
“Many who hear political opinions on podcasts say they largely agree with what they’re hearing,” the report says. Pew says roughly half of the podcast listeners who have heard opinions on government and politics say they line up with their own opinions (47%), compared with only 7% who indicate that those opinions don’t line up with their own.
The Pew report says there are “broad similarities” between the two major political parties in terms of the share who are listening to podcasts. But once there, Republicans and Democrats often have quite different experiences. People are the left listen at slightly higher levels than those on the right, although both Democratic and Republican listeners are also about equally likely to say they hear about news on the podcasts they listen to.
However, Pew says Republicans who listen to podcasts are more likely to trust the news they hear on podcasts more than the news they get from other sources, to report hearing things they wouldn’t hear elsewhere, and to hear political opinions. While Democrats are modestly more likely than Republicans to say that opinions they hear line up with their own.
Among those who get news on podcasts, Pew says nearly half of Republicans (46%) say they trust news on podcasts more than the news they get from other sources, compared with 19% of Democrats who feel this way. And nearly twice as many Republicans (40%) as Democrats (21%) also say they have often heard the news on podcasts that they would not have heard elsewhere.
Pew’s findings are based on a survey of 5,132 U.S. adults from Dec. 5-11, 2022.
Download the full report HERE.
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