S3 91. Podcast Listening Trends: New Edison Research Data (2025)
Have you ever wondered where your listeners are when they hit play on your podcast? Are they on a long commute, folding laundry at home, or squeezing in an episode between meetings at work? Understanding where and how people listen can completely change the way you create content.
Edison Research just released new data on podcast listenership, and the results might surprise you.
Where Audiences Are Listening To Podcasts
If you’ve been picturing your audience sitting in their car, giving you their undivided attention, it’s time to rethink that image. In reality, a whopping 67% of podcast listening happens at home—not in the car, not at the gym, but at home, where distractions are everywhere.
So what does this mean for you as a podcaster?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Podcast Listener Insights
00:58 Understanding Your Audience
01:56 Key Findings from Edison Research
04:52 Actionable Tips for Podcasters
05:57 Engaging with Your Listeners
07:50 Conclusion and Next Steps
The Problem with Podcast Audiences Multitasking
Well, first, it’s a reminder that most of your audience is multitasking. They might be cooking dinner, tidying up, or even working while listening to your show. This changes the way they absorb your content. If you’re sharing complex information or important calls to action, you need to make it easy for them to catch key details. Repeating key numbers, simplifying takeaways, and adding verbal cues like, “If you take away one thing from today’s episode, let it be this…” can help listeners stay engaged, even when they’re distracted.
The second most popular place for podcast listening?
Work.
About 16% of listeners tune in while working, which means they might have you playing in the background while tackling emails or sitting in a quiet office. This is another setting where attention is divided. If your audience tends to drop off halfway through an episode, it might not be because they don’t enjoy your content—it could be that they got pulled into a meeting or switched to another task.
And then there’s the car.
The Hidden Power Of Smart Car Speakers
Yes, people do listen while driving, but not as much as you might think.
Only 11% of podcast consumption happens in the car, which means a lot of the traditional advice about optimizing for commuters might be less relevant than it used to be. This also tells us that while some listeners might prefer long-form episodes, others may struggle to finish an episode in one sitting. If you see dips in your podcast analytics around the 20-minute mark, that could be a clue that your listeners are pausing—and possibly forgetting to come back.
One interesting element of podcast consumption while driving is that it will vary from audience to audience. Some podcast audiences still have listeners who primarily work from home, and whose habits haven’t changed, while for others, they may have restarted a commute back to the office.
How do you find out? By asking.
Where else do podcast audiences listen?
Beyond these main listening environments, about 6% of podcast consumption happens in other places, like the gym, grocery store, or while out on a walk. Some people even co-listen with family or friends, especially for news, educational, or uplifting content.
So, how can you use this data to improve your podcast strategy?
Start by having conversations with your listeners. If you’re on Spotify, use the Q&A feature to ask, “Where do you listen to this podcast?” If you’re on YouTube, invite comments. And if your platform doesn’t have built-in engagement tools, ask your listeners to DM you on social media.
The more you understand your audience’s habits, the better you can serve them. Maybe you’ll decide to tweak your episode structure, adding more recaps or shorter, digestible segments. Or perhaps you’ll double down on storytelling, making your content so compelling that listeners don’t want to pause, even when they’re busy.
At the end of the day, podcasting isn’t just about hitting record—it’s about creating a listening experience that fits seamlessly into your audience’s life.
So, where are YOU listening in from? Let’s start that conversation.
You can book a free 30-minute discovery call, where we can explore how to overcome limitations and enhance your podcast's impact.
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RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:
Edison Research Study: https://www.edisonresearch.com/most-podcast-listening-is-at-home/
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ABOUT THE HOST
Hi, I’m Ana Xavier, a multilingual award-winning podcast marketing and content strategist specialized in generating online visibility for women, multilingual, and minority impact-driven business owners.
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