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In this article, we’ll delve into discovering your podcast audience: why it’s important and how to identify who’s listening.
With over 158M Americans pressing play every month, podcasting in 2025 is well into the mainstream.1 Today’s listeners span every age and background, so it’s understanding who’s tuning in and why can help you grow your audience.
Key Audience and Demographic Trends
Podcasts now reach more than half of the US population aged 12 and above, driven largely by young superfans. Nearly two-thirds of those aged 12-34 listen to their favorite shows regularly, making podcasts their go-to for entertainment and connection.1
Black and Latino listeners are also driving growth, seeking podcasts that reflect real-world, lived experiences and diverse voices. In 2025, 58% of Black and 51% of Hispanic listeners turned to this medium at least once monthly, a 10% and 8% YoY growth, respectively.1
Understanding Podcast Audiences Can Enhance Your Strategy
Knowing who your listeners are and why they tune in gives you a competitive edge over creators who don’t. Podcast fans are deeply engaged: half say they never miss a new episode of their favorite show and feel a deeper connection to hosts than other media personalities.2 As a podcaster, you have a chance to connect with your fans on a personal level and enjoy a responsive and loyal audience. But only if you do it right.
Why Knowing Your Audience Matters
For content creators, being true to oneself and having fun along the way matter a lot. However, if you want to grow and achieve higher retention (i.e., go professional), understanding your audience is the key to:
- Boosting loyalty: Listeners who feel heard are more likely to stick around and share their new favorite with friends.
- Tailored content wins: Understanding who’s listening—by age, gender, and interests—acts as a guide in shaping episodes that hit the mark.
- Optimizing monetization: Insights into listeners' habits and preferences enable smarter ad placement and partnerships, making every sponsorship more effective.
Monitor Analytics to Identify Your Podcast Audience
Tapping into key audience insights can help you create episodes that resonate and choose formats that keep listeners coming back. But how can you gain these insights, and which data is most important for understanding your listener?
That’s where robust data analytics tools that are available on your podcast hosting platform will come in handy. For example, Simplecast makes audience discovery easy with IAB-certified, user-friendly analytics:
- Access the analytics dashboard: As the first step, head to your Simplecast dashboard, where you can immediately see quick stats on listeners, downloads, and top episodes.
- Explore audience geo and tech: Check out where listeners are tuning in from—based on country, state, and even city.
- Check device and browser data: You can see which devices, apps, and browsers your audience favors. These insights can help you optimize audio quality and format, identify where to focus your outreach, and spot trends that indicate new growth opportunities.
- Review episode performance: Analyze which episodes are getting the most plays, how long people are listening, and where they tend to drop off. This will help you spot trends in content and format preferences.
- Track subscriber growth: Watch your subscriber count over time—it’s an easy way to see which marketing efforts and topics spark sustained interest.
Tap Into Growing Podcast Audiences
Knowing your listener base and monitoring how it evolves is critical for success. Today, audience growth is strongest among certain demographic groups actively shaping podcast culture.
Female Podcast Listeners
Over 60M women in the US turn to podcasts for true crime, self-improvement, entertainment, and other shows as one of their favorite pastimes.1 However, their tastes are rapidly diversifying and fueling the success of a wide range of shows, from Call Her Daddy to Crime Junkie.
Often dedicated and community-focused, 92% of women regularly listen to shows hosted or produced by other women, and 73% of them discover their new favorites from friend or family recommendations.3 So, if women are your target audience, consider investing in inclusive production teams and encouraging community engagement across social channels.
Teen Podcast Listeners
Teens see podcast hosts as their trusted friends and come to podcasts for advice. Those aged 13-17 typically use this medium as a tool for self-discovery and an escape from daily life.
Teens are as diverse an audience as the podcast universe itself—nearly one in two teens identifies as multicultural.4 Many are always on the lookout for authentic and relatable voices, so being sincere is the best recipe for success.
Gen Z Podcast Listeners
Gen Z leads the podcast adoption curve, with true crime, comedy, and society & culture ranking as their favorite genres. This cohort uses podcasts for connection, entertainment, and deeper engagement with the topics they are already interested in.
Fun fact: Gen Z makes up the most loyal omnichannel fanbase—85% of them interact with their favorite hosts on social media or participate in online forums.5 If Gen Z is your key audience, being active on YouTube and Instagram is a great way to satisfy their appetite for more content.
Black Podcast Listeners
Black audiences often drive cultural discovery and want realness and depth in their listening experiences. Sixty percent of Black Americans turn to podcasts that offer authentic representations of Black voices and perspectives that connect them with their culture.6
With top genres being society & culture, comedy, and social justice, Black podcast listeners tend to enjoy having fun while also following topics that matter to their communities.
Latino Podcast Listeners
The Latino audience can be very passionate about their heritage, with three out of four US Hispanics being proud to hear voices that represent them and their community.6 They are oftentimes just as passionate about their favorite creators—50% Latino listeners never misses an episode of their favorite show.2
Want to create content that Latino listeners will gravitate towards? Emphasize cultural authenticity and inclusion, and ensure coverage of community events and trends.
How Audiences Are Listening
As the podcast industry continues to grow, certain trends emerge. Here are some tips on where to find your audience and how they engage with podcasts.
- Video podcasts are on the rise, which is best demonstrated by the #1 podcast service in the US—you guessed it: YouTube. Two out of three viewers mentioned they like to see the reactions and emotions of podcast hosts and their guests.2
- The conversation continues past podcast episodes themselves, going omnichannel as audiences interact with hosts on social media, share bite-sized content with their friends, and show up to live events.
- Fans frequently can’t get enough of podcasts—binge-listening is another phenomenon worth keeping in mind, with more than half of listeners consuming multiple episodes back to back.
Learn More About Your Audience With Simplecast
Today’s podcast audience is diverse, dynamic, and ready for anything—making this the golden age to grab a mic and join in. Luckily, every creator has access to the tools that can help to accurately measure and genuinely connect with fans in smarter ways than ever before. Start your free trial today.
Sources
1. 2025 Infinite Dial Report, Edison Research
2. Podsurvey Podcast User Study, Q1 2025 Base: Podcast Listeners A18+. N=3,702
3. Edison Research, SiriusXM Media, Women’s Audio Report 2025
4. Pew Research Center
5. The Gen Z Audio Report, Edison Research, SiriusXM Media
6. SiriusXM Media Cultural Pride Study 2023