If we wanted to get your attention this week we could follow the sometimes amusing, often disturbing, trend of gender reveals gone awry. We could feature our Top 10 Podcasts among U.S. Women with a pink smoke bomb or a confetti cannon.
We will spare you the pink balloons and fireworks, because the last thing we want to do by talking about which podcasts reach the most women is to reinforce gender stereotypes. Rather, we would like to share the following Top 10 list which we recently presented at the She Podcasts Live! Conference.
The rankings are from Edison Podcast Metrics, which measures podcast listening (not downloads) and is the only comprehensive measure of podcast listening in the U.S. Based on data from Q4 2022-Q1 2023, Crime Junkie with host Ashley Flowers is the podcast that reaches the most women age 13+ in the U.S. Yes, The Joe Rogan Experience ranks #2 among women, which some readers may find surprising, but the massive reach of the show is self-evident. Rounding out the top three is Morbid, hosted by Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley, so two of the top three podcasts among women are indeed true crime (actually Morbid is classified as comedy, so true crime/comedy in practice), and those two podcasts have hosts who are women. Incidentally, all of the top three podcasts also show up on the men’s ranker (at #5, #1, and #9 respectively).
The list contains news in the form of The Daily, and society and culture with Joe Rogan, Call Her Daddy, This American Life and Stuff You Should Know.
Six of the pods on the women’s list also make the men’s list. Here are the four that don’t make the men’s Top 10: Call Her Daddy, Dateline, My Favorite Murder, and Office Ladies. A mix of true crime and/or personality-driven content, all helmed by female hosts.
We know from the Women’s Podcast Report from Edison Research and SXM Media that 90% of women monthly podcast listeners listen to at least one podcast hosted or produced by a woman. Forty-eight percent of women monthly podcast listeners would feel more favorable about a brand if they knew it advertised on a podcast hosted by women.
Why is it even important to understand women podcast listeners? Well, women make up a smaller percentage of the monthly podcast listenership in the U.S. among those age 12+. According to Edison Research’s The Infinite Dial® from Amazon Music, Wondery, and ART19, 46% of monthly podcast listeners are women, 53% are men, and 1% are non-binary. Women have been narrowing the gender gap in recent years. Women are also underrepresented as creators: Of the weekly podcast listeners who say they currently or have ever produced a podcast, 29% are women, according to Edison Podcast Metrics. It is for these reasons that there is a need for events like She Podcasts Live.
Women podcast listeners spend a large portion of their daily audio time with podcasts — 32%, according to Edison Reasearch’s Share of Ear. So, if a woman in the U.S. listens to podcasts, she is spending almost one-third of her time with the medium.
Forty-eight percent of women monthly podcast listeners in the U.S. are age 12-34, 34% are age 35-54, and 18% are age 55+. Almost half of them are age 34 or younger! This is a group that is cementing their listening habits and can grow with the podcast medium, and group whose value is worth recognizing.
For more on women podcast listeners, view the Women’s Podcast Report from Edison Research and SXM Media.
Parents and their kids share what they love about podcasts in first-ever “Kids Podcast Listener Report”
Join us for the upcoming Kids Podcast Listener Report webinar presented by Edison Research and Kids Listenon Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 2:00pm EDT.Click here to register.
The Kids Podcast Listener Report reveals attitudes about podcast listening among a nationally representative survey of parents with children ages 6-12.
In addition to parent feedback, the study includes a parent-administered survey of children podcast listeners and is the first-ever comprehensive measurement of the listening habits and preferences of U.S. podcast listeners age 6-12. The webinar will also feature video excerpts from in-home interviews with parents together with their children to highlight what families like about podcasts.
Edison Research Vice President Megan Lazovick, along with Research Co-Leads of Kids Listen Lindsay Patterson and Sanden Totten, will present the findings. A copy of the presentation will be available following the webinar.
Connect with Edison Research at Podcast Movement 2023!
We are excited to be welcomed to the main stage once again by Podcast Movement for the world’s largest gathering of podcasters! This year, Edison Research Senior Director of Research Gabriel Soto will take attendees on a podcast journey across multiple generations. His keynote will demonstrate how each generational group is crucial to podcasting’s growth. Gabe will present findings from Edison’s existing groundbreaking studies, as well as never-before-seen research on Boomers, Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Z, and Kids Podcast Listeners. Click here to register for Podcast Movement 2023
