42 per cent of people in the UK listened to a podcast last week

Nearly half of the UK have listened to a podcast in the past week according to new data from Acast and Nielsen.

New data reveals that 42% of the British public have listened to a podcast in the past seven days and 21% listen at least once a day – highlighting the medium’s growing influence and reach.

This surge reflects changing consumer behaviours, where on-demand content is increasingly preferred for its convenience, variety, and accessibility.

Over half of monthly podcast listeners (51%) have watched a video podcast in the last seven days, and 37% of listeners in the UK actually prefer podcasts that include video.

Josh Woodhouse, Regional Managing Director, UK & Ireland, notes, “Podcasting has transitioned to a mainstream media channel in an incredibly short time. Our latest findings underscore the importance of podcasting as a popular entertainment medium and a powerful advertising platform. It’s clear that podcasts are not just keeping pace with traditional media but setting new standards for how content and advertising can interact in a digital age.”

The full 2024 Podcast Listener Landscape report from Acast is available by emailing sales.uk@acast.com

Data is from Nielsen who conducted a study between 16th and 23rd August 2024 to n=2,000 people in the UK, where n=1,003 are Nationally Representative and a further n=993 are monthly podcast listeners.