About 1-in-3 Americans (32%) “say they get news from podcasts at least sometimes,” nearly a 50% increase over the past 5 years, according to the Pew Research Center. Now more available in video formats, podcasts are becoming a fixture in an even more fragmented news landscape where, except for Fox News, legacy media, including cable news networks, national broadcast news, newspapers, and terrestrial radio, continue to lose market share.
While the average cable news viewer is in their late 60s, podcasts attract a younger audience. “Around four-in-ten U.S. adults under 50 (39%) say they get news from podcasts often or sometimes, compared with 24% of those ages 50 and older,” reported Pew.
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This does not necessarily mean, however, that podcasts are creating more interest in news and public affairs in younger Americans. It is more the case that younger American already interested in politics and government are making podcasts a central part of their information diet. More than 7-in-10 (71%) “news podcast listeners are extremely or very interested in news, compared to 45% of non-podcast listeners,” according to a Reuters analysis.
The top reason people listen to news-oriented podcasts is that “they explain a topic or issue in the news in depth with nearly 7-in-10 (69%) saying they tune in to “podcasts that primarily explain a topic or issue in the news in depth, according to Pew. Similarly, among younger podcast listeners, more than 4-in-5 (84%) tune in to podcasts “to dig deeper into topics of interest,” according to Edison Research. This accounts for the popularity of The New York Times’ “Daily” podcast as well as the BBC’s “Americast,” both of which consistently rank among the most listened to news-oriented podcasts.
For better or worse, there is also a large audience for ideologically driven opinion podcasts that are very much like primetime cable news shows in a different format. In fact, cable television refugees, such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, host among the top-rated podcasts with even sharper-edged and more one-sided versions of their previous Fox News shows.
While already established brands, news, and personalities do attract a large slice of the podcast audience, new voices have emerged and, in some cases, found large followings.
Joe Rogan and Charlemagne the God are two prominent examples.
In a welcome development, there are a number of podcasts that provide dialogue between people with different views, working to take listeners out of their comfort zones and bucking the trend of people choosing news and information based on whether they are in ideological agreement with the show’s point of view. These include “Conversations With People Who Hate Me,” “Rationally Speaking,” Left, Right & Center,” and “Open to Debate.” Whether a sufficiently large audience can be built for this approach, remains an open question.
With already demonstrated capacities to attract an audience for quality in-depth exploration of news topics, to provide a platform for new voices in our political conversation–ones that are perhaps less wedded to the old ideological and partisan arguments– and to create space for shows that are designed to bridge our divides, podcasts have added value to our news and information system.
They have not changed their fundamental character, however. That will require a needed and much larger sea change in media structure, and for “we the audience,” to open our minds to news that expands our understanding and challenges our beliefs—rather than simply reinforcing our preexisting views.