Have you ever ever tried studying a weblog whereas washing dishes? Cleansing the home? Driving to work? (Effectively, you may however that doesn’t sound like an important consumer expertise, does it?) That’s not a knock on blogs. They continue to be important for search engine marketing, feeding LLMs with content material, driving site visitors, and lead technology. They usually’re not going wherever.
However podcasts for B2B audiences can supply one thing blogs by no means might. They match into the components of your viewers’s day when taking a look at a display screen isn’t an possibility. The neatest B2B manufacturers aren’t selecting between the 2. As an alternative, they’re doing each.
And should you’re not satisfied but, We’ll let the info inform the story.
B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Case
These statistics come from 5 completely different analysis stories, all launched within the final yr. Whenever you have a look at all 5 collectively, the image is obvious: podcasting for B2B audiences hasn’t even begun to peak, and B2brand content material is the subsequent frontier.
Podcast Listenership Retains Rising
Podcasting is a progress medium. Extra individuals are listening now than ever earlier than. However what’s really spectacular is what number of listeners are new to the medium. Although podcasts have been round for the reason that early 2000s, they’ve solely lately reached a real mass market viewers.
Supply: Edison Analysis
- An estimated 158 million People are month-to-month podcast customers, up from simply 46 million in 2015. (1)
- Weekly podcast customers now quantity 115 million. (1)
- Since 2015, weekly time spent with podcasts has grown by 335%. (1)
- 40% of the U.S. 12+ inhabitants has consumed a podcast within the final week. (1)
Podcast Listeners Are Demographically Beneficial
Okay, so thousands and thousands of individuals are listening to podcasts. However are these folks a worthwhile target market for B2B entrepreneurs? Honest query. Not each huge viewers is the fitting viewers. Loads of platforms boast big numbers and ship underwhelming outcomes. So earlier than you get too enthusiastic about 158 million month-to-month listeners, let’s discuss who these folks truly are.
- Month-to-month podcast customers skew higher-income: 47% earn $75K+, in comparison with 43% of the final U.S. inhabitants. (1)
- Weekly podcast customers usually tend to be college-educated, and are disproportionately enterprise homeowners (18%) and householders (56%). (1)
- 68% of 35-54-year-olds consumed a podcast within the final month, making it a robust car for reaching one in every of promoting’s most valued demographics. (5)
Podcasts Are a Trusted Data Channel
We reside in an period of persistent skepticism. B2B patrons are drowning in content material, ignoring advertisements, and tuning out manufacturers that speak at them as a substitute of to them. Necessary distinction, no? The manufacturers reducing via in 2026 all have one factor in widespread: they’re credible. Podcasts are one of the vital direct paths to changing into that trusted, go-to useful resource in your viewers. They don’t simply attain patrons. They construct the sort of familiarity and authority that really strikes choices.
- People discover podcasts 23x extra reliable than social media. (2)
- Practically a 3rd of U.S. adults, 32%, now get information from podcasts, up from 22% in 2020. (3)
- 69% hearken to in-depth explainer-style content material. (3)
Podcast Followers Are Devoted Listeners
Can all of us agree that the majority digital content material will get seconds of your viewers’s consideration earlier than they scroll, click on away, or get distracted? Podcasts are constructed in another way. Whereas the remainder of the web is combating over fractions of a minute, podcast listeners are exhibiting up and staying.
Edison Analysis
- Listeners spend practically 1 hour per day with podcasts. (2)
- Weekly podcast customers collectively log 773 million hours per week. (1)
- Podcast followers, those that fee their very own engagement 5 or increased out of 10, spend over 9 hours every week with podcasts, practically 4 hours greater than informal listeners. (1)
- Good TVs, now in 75% of U.S. houses, are driving in-home podcast listening, proving the medium is not only for commuters. (1)
Video Is Increasing the Medium
We’ve come full circle right here, people. Many podcasts have primarily change into video-forward speak exhibits. Is it modern? Is it nonetheless “radio?” Is this modification growing listenership? Viewership? These are questions for an additional weblog.
Right here’s the factor: the demand is plain. Netflix even has a devoted class for podcasts now. A lot of the exhibits I hearken to now supply a video feed, and the advantages are apparent. Seeing a visitor’s response or a bunch’s physique language creates a degree of intimacy that audio simply can’t match. It additionally offers additional actual property for model recognition and higher advert placements.
I’d argue this shift particularly helps B2B manufacturers as a result of their merchandise are sometimes advanced or intangible. When a product is tough to visualise, video humanizes the summary. It turns a faceless service into a private partnership.
Past B2B Advertising Podcast
- Greater than half the U.S. inhabitants, 51%, has ever watched a podcast. (1)
- On a month-to-month foundation, video podcast customers now make up 37% of the U.S. 12+ inhabitants. (1)
- Greater than 1 in 4 People, 26%, watched a video podcast within the final week. (1)
In the event you’ve ever listened to a podcast, you realize they’re typically infested with advertisements (Anybody hearken to iHeartRadio podcasts?). However what medium isn’t as of late? The excellent news is the overwhelming majority of listeners are okay with this for the reason that content material is technically free. And that goodwill interprets.
Increasingly listeners are buying merchandise after listening to these advertisements.
It’s a must to meet your viewers the place they’re, and that is the place they’re. So the query isn’t whether or not podcasting belongs in your B2B advertising and marketing combine. It’s whether or not you possibly can afford to depart that touchpoint on the desk.
- 97% of spoken-word audio on digital platforms is ad-supported, in comparison with solely 47% of music content material. (4)
- 44% of listeners bought a product after listening to a podcast advert, up from 34% in 2020. (1)
- 88% of weekly podcast customers say advertisements are a good commerce at no cost content material, and 68% say they don’t thoughts listening to them. (1)
Don’t Be (Pod) Solid Apart
Podcasting isn’t “good to have” anymore. It’s the place your patrons already are. And getting began with Podcast Marketing doesn’t need to be overwhelming when you’ve got the fitting companions dealing with sponsorships, visitor sourcing, manufacturing, and promotion.
When you’re at it, do your self a favor and queue up the Beyond B2B Marketing Podcast. Lee Odden and a few of the sharpest minds in B2B advertising and marketing cowl every thing from AI disruption and transformation to the significance of creativity and storytelling plus every thing in between.
In the event you’d prefer to be taught extra about the way to construct a podcast in your B2B model that positions you because the go-to useful resource in your house, we can help.
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