Nielsen parses diverse podcast listening habits

The Future. Audience metrics firm Nielsen released new findings on the listening habits of diverse audiences, finding variations on what is most popular for different racial groups. But there are some universal truths: listeners love to laugh, and they all listen for roughly the same amount of time. The findings could be a boon for brands looking to target certain audiences with advertising.

Diverse listening
When it comes to diverse cohorts of audiences, not all podcast listening is created equal.

• Music was the top podcast genre for Black listeners, Hispanic listeners, and listeners with disabilities.
• Listeners that identified as LGBTQ+ mostly listened to fiction podcasts.
• Meanwhile, Asian American listeners gravitated toward tech podcasts.
• But when all podcast listeners are taken into account, comedy podcasts easily claim the top choice.

How much listening is actually being done? Each diverse cohort averages a podcast-listening time of three hours per week.

And in news that will make brands very happy, most listeners are totally okay with listening to ads during podcasts. No wonder the podcast ad market is expected to balloon to $2 billion by 2023.