Two-Thirds Of Podcast Listeners Say They Don’t Skip The Ads.

There is fresh data pointing to podcasting’s continued ability to reach listeners with ad messages. A new study from Edison Research and NPR finds two-thirds (65%) of people who reported listening to a podcast in a week prior to the survey listened to the commercial message. That is on par with broadcast radio (64%) and slightly above online audio services (62%). Edison found that audio overall outperformed video, with ad avoidance rates higher for both traditional television and streaming video services. Social media did even worse with half of people using that medium reporting they avoid the ads.

The study also found that NPR radio listeners show a particularly strong engagement with radio and its sponsorship messages, with 46% agreeing that they are more likely to trust a company they hear advertised on NPR and 59% agreeing that NPR engages their mind in a more positive way than other media does.

NPR listeners are more likely to be Infoseekers (26% of all NPR listeners), Connection Seekers (19%), and Radio Heads (15%) than the average radio listener.

The report says in the fourth quarter of 2020, podcasts captured a 6% share of audio listening time among those aged 18 and older. Although often eclipsed in the media by other audio platforms, AM/FM radio commands 41% of all time spent listening to audio. Streaming audio services like Spotify and Pandora ranked second at 18%.

“In our increasingly digital lives, some of us may take radio for granted,” Edison Research VP Megan Lazovick said Thursday. “But radio’s reach is truly phenomenal.”

The results are based on a national online survey of 1,500 U.S. adults age 18 and older, conducted January 13-21, 2021. All respondents reported listening to AM/FM radio (traditional or streamed) in the last week. Data was weighted to match the sex, age, and ethnicity of AM/FM radio weekly listeners from The Infinite Dial from Edison Research and Triton Digital.

Download the full report HERE.