AgWired

Podcast Audience Grows Significantly

For those of you who are continuing to ponder the wonder of new media and are maybe waiting out this “fad” then you might want to take notice of a recent Arbitron-Edison Media Research study titled, “The Infinite Dial 2008: Radio�s Digital Platforms.” You will find that there continues to be huge growth in the number of people with iPods and who are listening to podcasts. That growth percentage is 40 percent. Here’s some nuggets from the study:

iPod/Portable MP3 player ownership continues dramatic growth. Nearly four in ten
(37 percent) own an iPod or other brand of portable MP3 player; up from 30 percent in
2007 and more than two and a half times the number in 2005 (14 percent). Nearly three-
quarters (73 percent) of those age 12-17 own a digital audio player.

Audio podcasting usage continues to increase along side the proliferation of
iPod/MP3 player ownership. Eighteen percent have ever listened to an audio podcast;
up from 13 percent in 2007. Nine percent have listened to an audio podcast in the past
month (an estimated 23 million).

The study also found out how important mobile phones are to people today:

More than one in five (21 percent) consumers said radio has a big impact on their lives; ranking second only to mobile phones (33 percent) as the audio platform/device that has the biggest impact on people�s lives.