Podcasts Flex Mass-Reach Muscle As New Data Shows Reach Beats TV, Social Media.

Podcasts have become one of America’s biggest mass-reach media platforms, with new analysis showing they now reach more young and middle-aged adults than YouTube, television, Facebook, Instagram or Spotify.

An analysis from Cumulus Media and Westwood One’s Audio Active Group, combining audience data from Edison Research, Nielsen and MRI-Simmons, finds podcasts rank second in reach among both adults 18-34 and 25-54, trailing only AM/FM radio.

Among adults 25-54, podcasts have a 69% monthly reach, according to Edison Research’s 2026 Infinite Dial study. That compares with 65% weekly reach for live and time-shifted TV, 62% monthly reach for Facebook, 57% for YouTube, 50% for Instagram and 42% for Spotify. AM/FM radio tops the list with an 86% weekly reach.

The podcast showing is even more notable among 18-34s, a demographic where digital and social platforms have traditionally dominated media conversations. Podcasts reach two-thirds (67%) of the demo monthly, putting them ahead of YouTube at 65%, Instagram at 58%, Spotify and Facebook at 53% each, and live and time-shifted TV at 49%. The analysis shows AM/FM radio leads at 81% weekly reach.

“Audio in the form of podcasts and AM/FM radio have extraordinary reach across all major demographics, even 18-34,” Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in a video detailing the analysis.

The comparisons come with an important measurement distinction. Podcast and most digital-platform figures represent monthly reach, while Nielsen’s radio and television figures are based on weekly reach. Bouvard acknowledges that the comparison is “not exactly a fair fight,” although the numbers nevertheless illustrate the scale podcasts have achieved relative to other major media platforms.

Podcasting also plays a major role in expanding the reach of digital audio advertising.

Edison “Share of Ear” data for Q3 2025 through Q2 2026 shows ad-supported Spotify alone reaches 7% of U.S. adults on a typical day. Combining Spotify and Pandora increases that to 12%. But once podcasts are added, the combined daily reach jumps to a third (32%) of adults.

The effect is even greater among adults 25-54. Ad-supported Spotify reaches 7% daily, while Spotify and Pandora together reach 13%. Adding podcasts triples that combined figure to 39%.

That means podcasts account for a considerably larger incremental reach gain than adding a second major streaming music service to an audio plan.

But the Westwood One analysis also argues that advertisers relying exclusively on digital audio are still leaving a large portion of the population unreached. Among adults 18+, adding AM/FM radio to the Spotify, Pandora and podcast combination increases daily reach from 32% to 72%. Among 25-54s, adding radio takes the combined reach from 39% to 75%.

“If your audio buy only consists of digital audio, you’ve missed two-thirds of America,” Bouvard says. “You really need AM/FM radio in the mix because that’ll get your reach up significantly — a 40-point increase in incremental reach, up to 72% when you add radio to digital audio.”

While Westwood One’s broader analysis is designed to make the case for adding AM/FM radio to media plans, the underlying data also underscores how far podcasting has moved into the media mainstream. It is now the second highest-reaching medium in the analysis among both 18-34s and 25-54s.

Bouvard says reach is critical because the primary way brands grow is by attracting more customers across the entire category, rather than concentrating advertising too narrowly on a small group of likely buyers. Citing marketing strategists Les Binet and Sarah Carter, he says advertisers should prioritize reach over frequency and “talk to everyone who buys your category.” Narrow targeting may appear efficient, he says, but it can limit the number of potential customers exposed to a brand.

That reach is important because advertising’s larger job, Bouvard argues, is building what marketers call “mental availability” — making a brand familiar enough that consumers think of it when they are ready to buy. Since advertising memories fade over time, brands need broad, continuing exposure.

“The goal is not to create a lead; the goal is to create a memory,” says Bouvard. “The brand that’s remembered is the brand that’s bought.”