Radio And Podcasts Now Neck-And-Neck In Spoken Word Listening Time.

The spoken word share of the audio pie has grown post-pandemic as Americans have spent more of their media diet consuming news, sports, and talk shows. Edison Research says spoken word listening grew 28% between 2017 and 2025. And most of spoken word’s growth has come from personality type shows, typically in a podcast format. The result is a greater share of people’s spoken word content is going to podcasts.

In 2015, when the first season of “Serial” seems to wake up the world to podcasting, the on-demand format accounted for just one of every 10 minutes an American age 13 and older spent with spoken word audio. Edison says it has seen that number climb steadily during the past decade, and at the end of last year four of every 10 minutes of spoken word audio listening time went to podcasts.

There are only so many hours a day to consume content, and the result is AM/FM radio has seen its share of spoken word audio time shrink during the past decade. Edison says in 2015, three-quarters of spoken word listening was to broadcast radio content. That share now sits at 39% —or roughly equal with podcasting’s allowance. The remainder goes to media such as audiobooks. Taken together, Edison says a quarter of all daily time spent with audio is now spent with spoken word audio.

As podcasting continues to capture a larger share of Americans’ listening time, Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein says the shift confirms something he has argued for years: “podcasting is ‘the new talk radio.’” He believes the spread is even wider in the 18-34 and 25-54 age demos as the competitive balance likely tilts further toward podcasting in the key advertiser demos as talk radio, like cable news, has seen its median age climb.

As broadcasters look to build their online audiences with new podcasts, Goldstein cautions that simply repurposing a terrestrial radio talk show as a podcast is not a guaranteed solution. “I’ve worked with some radio talk shows that profile younger with their podcast,” he says, but adds, that there is also some generational appeal in the data trends. And it’s why fresh talent and a modern platform go hand in hand.

“Older shows are targeted at an older audience,” he says. “Podcasting has younger homegrown stars that have captured the moment, which is why we see them scaling to platforms like YouTube and Netflix.”