Spotify’s Wrapped Highlights U.S. Podcast Consumption.

It is not just listeners getting a “Wrapped” report at year-end from Spotify. So too are advertisers. And it underscores how podcasts are becoming one of the platform’s most powerful growth and engagement drivers, creating expanding opportunities for marketers heading into 2026.  

It shows podcast listening in the U.S. is accelerating across both content categories and usage contexts, with Science emerging as the fastest-growing podcast genre, with streams up by a third (32%) year over year based on January to October data. Spotify says Business & Tech had the second-largest increase with 27% growth, while History rose 20%.

“In the U.S., podcasts have become the new classrooms,” the report tells marketers. “Consider podcast ads if you want your audience to learn more about your brand.”

At the same time, Games & Hobbies over-indexed as the most distinctive U.S. podcast category. U.S. listeners 51% more likely to consume content from that genre than the global average. Spotify says the results are pointing to a blend of learning and leisure that brands can tap through host-read and contextual podcast advertising.

Spotify said in-car podcast listening among U.S. users outpaced other markets by a wide margin, running 186% higher than the global norm.  It says that is reinforcing the car as a high-attention environment where hosts effectively “play passenger.”

Spotify data also shows U.S. listeners are 203% more likely than the global average to watch video podcasts on gaming consoles. It says that highlights the growing role of living-room screens and nontraditional devices in podcast discovery and consumption.

Beyond podcasts, the ad buyer-targeted report paints a broader picture of audio — and Spotify in particular — as a positive, immersive media environment. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of U.S. Spotify fans say time spent on the platform feels more positive than time spent on social media. Music listening habits also continue to diversify, with dinner playlists up 21% year over year in the U.S. — growing 50% faster than the global average. And “emo” music accounting for two in five of the genre’s global streams, driven disproportionately by U.S. listeners.