For our latest survey data about podcasts, read the “Podcasts and News Fact Sheet” here.

Following a steady increase in podcast listening over the past decade, podcasts have become a big part of the normal routine – and news diet – of many Americans, especially younger adults.

Roughly half of U.S. adults say they have listened to a podcast in the past year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, including one-in-five who report listening to podcasts at least a few times a week. Among adults under 30, about a third listen to podcasts with such frequency.

Today’s podcast landscape is a sprawling one, featuring topics from sports and religion to politics and entertainment, and it attracts large numbers of listeners who turn to podcasts for a variety of reasons.

Large shares of podcast listeners say that they turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning and diversion – i.e., having something to listen to while doing something else. Half of Americans or more who have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months say these are major reasons they listen to podcasts.

Fewer Americans turn to podcasts in search of news, though most listeners still say that news is at least a part of their experience with podcasts. Among U.S. podcast listeners – those who have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months – 29% say that staying up to date about current events is a major reason they listen to podcasts. Two-thirds of podcast listeners say they have heard news discussed on the podcasts they listen to – amounting to a third of all U.S. adults. And among those who hear news on podcasts, the vast majority say they expect the news they hear there to be mostly accurate.

The survey shows, however, that most podcast listeners are not tuning into podcasts connected to news organizations. Just one-in-five listeners say the podcasts they listen to are connected to a news organization, while almost three times that amount (59%) say they are not (21% aren’t sure).

Listeners turn to podcasts to hear about a wide range of specific topics. Nearly half of podcast listeners say they regularly listen to podcasts about comedy (47%) and entertainment, pop culture, and the arts (46%), while about four-in-ten (41%) turn to podcasts about politics and government. Other common topics include science and technology, history, and true crime (such as Serial, which helped popularize podcasts after its first season in 2014).

Many listeners also engage with podcasts in ways other than listening, such as watching a movie or reading a book because of a podcast, following a podcast or its hosts on social media, or purchasing a product that was advertised. About a third of listeners (36%) even say they’ve tried out a lifestyle change – such as a workout routine or journaling – because of a podcast they listened to.

Other types of engagement are less common, including joining online discussion groups, engaging with political causes, paying for a subscription or buying merchandise.

Nearly nine-in-ten of those who hear news on podcasts expect it to be accurate

When Americans do hear about news on the podcasts they listen to, they largely view it as accurate. Among those who hear news discussed on podcasts, a large majority (87%) say they expect it to be mostly accurate, compared with about one-in-ten who say they expect it to be mostly inaccurate.

This is a much higher level of trust than people have in some other sources of news and information. For instance, in a slightly different question asked of Americans who get news from social media in 2020, 39% of social media news consumers said they expect the news they see there to be largely accurate, while a majority (59%) said they expect the news there to be largely inaccurate.

Similarly, most people who get news from podcasts either say they trust that news more than the news they get from other sources (31%) or trust it about the same (55%). Fewer (15%) trust news from podcasts less than news from other sources.

Many podcast listeners also say that the news they get there includes information they wouldn’t have heard about elsewhere. Nearly three-quarters of Americans who get news on podcasts (73%) say this happens at least sometimes, including three-in-ten who say they often hear unique news on podcasts.

Among all podcast listeners, just over half (54%) say they hear guest or host opinions about politics and government – including 25% who say they hear this type of content extremely or fairly often and 29% who hear it sometimes.

Many who listen to political opinions on podcasts say they largely agree with what they’re hearing. Among those who hear political commentary, about half (47%) say these views mostly line up with their own, while just 7% say the opposite. Still, almost half (46%) say they are exposed to about an even mix of political views.

Republican podcast listeners more likely than Democrats to trust podcast news and say it offers unique content

There are no huge differences between Republicans and Democrats in the shares who listen to podcasts and hear news on them. Just under half of Republicans and those who lean Republican (46%) and just over half of Democrats and Democratic leaners(54%) say they have listened to a podcast in the past year, and roughly two-thirds of listeners in each party say they’ve heard news discussed on the podcasts they listen to.

However, there are some notable differences between podcast listeners in the two major political parties when it comes to their views of the news they hear on podcasts: Republicans are more likely than Democrats to trust the news they hear on podcasts more than other sources and to report hearing news they wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere.

Among those who get news on podcasts, nearly half of Republicans (46%) say they trust news on podcasts more than news they get from other sources, compared with about one-in-five Democrats who feel this way (19%). And nearly twice as many Republicans (40%) as Democrats (21%) also say they have often heard news on podcasts that they would not have heard elsewhere.

Among podcast listeners overall, Republicans are somewhat more likely than Democrats to say they often listen to podcasts that feature political opinions (31% vs. 21%) and somewhat less likely to say they listen to podcasts connected to news organizations (14% vs. 26%).

Younger Americans more likely to listen to podcasts, and they turn to podcasts for different reasons than older listeners

As is the case with many other digital habits, younger adults are more likely than older age groups to listen to podcasts – and by a wide margin. Two-thirds of Americans ages 18 to 29 have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months, compared with just under a third (28%) of those 65 and older.

Additionally, younger listeners tend to be more likely than older listeners to be listening to podcasts frequently. Among podcast listeners, roughly half (48%) of those in the youngest group say they listen at least a few times a week, versus about a quarter (27%) of those 65 and older. That means about a third of all U.S. adults under 30 (32%) report listening to podcasts at least a few times a week; the same is true of just 8% of those in the oldest group.

Younger and older podcast listeners are equally likely to say they hear news discussed on the podcasts they listen to. But because younger Americans are more likely to be listening to podcasts in the first place, overall they are more likely than older Americans to be exposed to news from podcasts.

The reasons that Americans turn to podcasts also differ by age. Most podcast listeners ages 18 to 29 say that entertainment (75%) or having something to listen to while doing something else (70%) are major reasons they listen to podcasts. A far smaller share of listeners 65 and older cite entertainment (30%) as a major reason they listen to podcasts, and even fewer (22%) listen to podcasts in the background while doing other things.

Meanwhile, the most common major reason podcast listeners 65 and older cite for listening to podcasts is learning (61%).

About half of adults in the United States (49%) say they have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months, according to the new survey. This finding follows previous Pew Research Center analyses showing that podcast listening has steadily increased throughout the past decade.

One-in-five podcast listeners – which is about 10% of all U.S. adults – are avid listeners, listening to podcasts nearly every day. Another 22% of podcast listeners listen a few times a week, while a quarter report listening a few times a month. Altogether, about two-thirds of podcast listeners (66%) – or about one-third of all adults (32%) – listen to podcasts at least a few times a month.

A majority of those who say they have listened to a podcast in the past year (58%) also said they are listening to two or more podcasts currently. This includes 19% who say they are listening to four or more podcasts. A similar percentage (18%) say they are currently listening to one podcast, and about a quarter (23%) say they are not listening to any podcasts right now.

Podcast listeners most often turn to podcasts for entertainment, education and diversion

About nine-in-ten podcast listeners say learning (88%) and entertainment (87%) are reasons they listen to podcasts, including more than half who say these are major reasons they tune in (55% and 60%, respectively). Roughly eight-in-ten podcast listeners (81%) say that simply having something to listen to in the background while they do something else is a reason they listen, with about half (52%) saying it is a major reason.

Hearing others’ opinions, keeping up with current events, and seeking encouragement or inspiration are less common reasons people listen to podcasts, but most listeners still say these are at least minor reasons they do so. For instance, nearly two-thirds of U.S. podcast listeners (64%) say staying up to date about current events is a reason they tune in, although far fewer (29%) describe this as a major reason.

Podcast listeners hear about many different topics, with comedy and entertainment atop the list

Podcast listeners report listening to podcasts on a wide variety of topics. The survey asked podcast listeners if they regularly listen to podcasts about 12 different subjects; 10 of these topics capture the attention of at least a quarter of podcast listeners, ranging from politics and comedy to finance and religion. And about half of podcast listeners (53%) say they regularly hear about four or more topics on the podcasts they listen to.

Nearly half of podcast listeners say they regularly listen to podcasts about comedy (47%) or entertainment, pop culture and the arts (46%). And about four-in-ten say they turn to podcasts about politics and government (41%), science and technology (40%) or history (40%).

About a third of podcast listeners listen to podcasts about true crime (34%), self-help and relationships (32%) or money and finance (31%), and three-in-ten tune in to hear about religion and spirituality. Roughly a quarter or fewer regularly listen to podcasts about health and fitness (27%), sports (22%) or race and ethnicity (15%).

Six-in-ten podcast listeners have watched a movie, read a book or listened to music because of a podcast they listened to

Many podcast listeners also say that they have engaged with the podcasts they listen to in other ways than merely listening – whether that is following a podcast’s recommendations, following a host on social media or buying something advertised on a podcast. Six-in-ten podcast listeners say they have watched a movie, read a book or listened to music because of a podcast they listened to. And about half of podcast listeners (52%) say they follow a podcast or its host on social media.  

About a third of podcast listeners (36%) say they’ve tried out a change to their lifestyle because of a podcast, such as a workout routine, a diet or journaling. And 28% have bought something promoted or discussed on a podcast.

Other types of engagement – such as joining online discussion groups, engaging with political causes, paying for a subscription or buying merchandise – are less common, although at least one-in-ten podcast listeners say they have done each of these things because of a podcast they listened to.

While the act of listening to podcasts may often be done alone, there are several ways that podcasts are a social experience. For example, most listeners say they recommend podcasts to someone else, discuss the content they hear with others, and apply things they hear in podcasts to other parts of their lives.

Not only do two-thirds of podcast listeners say they have recommended a podcast to someone else (67%), but six-in-ten have listened to a podcast that was recommended by a friend or family member, and about a third (36%) say they listen to at least one podcast that a friend or family member listens to.

Moreover, roughly two-thirds of podcast listeners (68%) say they discuss what they heard on a podcast with others at least sometimes, including 24% who do this often.

Two-thirds of adults who have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months say they have ever heard news discussed on those podcasts. Put another way, a third of all U.S. adults have been exposed to at least some news through a podcast they listen to.

Many podcast listeners hear news through one or more of three different types of news-related formats. About half or more of podcast listeners listen to a podcast that explains a topic in the news in depth (57%), features a host or hosts offering their opinions about issues in the news (53%), or summarizes the major news stories of the day (51%).

No matter the format, a relatively small percentage of podcast listeners (20%) say they listen to podcasts connected to a news organization, such as a newspaper or a news website. (About the same share, 21%, say they are not sure whether the podcasts they listen to are connected to a news organization.) The majority (59%) say that as far as they know, they don’t listen to any podcasts connected to a news organization, suggesting that much of the news people are exposed to on podcasts could be coming from nontraditional sources.

When listeners hear news on a podcast, they generally offer a very positive assessment of the accuracy of that information. Almost nine-in-ten podcast listeners who hear news discussed on the podcasts they listen to (87%) say they expect that news to be mostly accurate, and most say they trust it about as much as the news they get from other sources (55%) or even more than the news they get from other sources (31%). A considerably smaller share (15%) say they trust the news they get from podcasts less than the news they get from other sources.

A large share of those who get news on podcasts also say they encounter news on that platform that they would not get from other news sources. In all, about three-quarters of listeners who hear news on podcasts say they hear this kind of unique news extremely or fairly often (30%) or sometimes (43%). Only about a quarter (27%) say they rarely or never get news on podcasts that they would not have heard about elsewhere in the media ecosystem.

Just over half of podcast listeners say they hear political opinions on the podcasts they listen to

One style of podcast focuses on hosts’ opinions on current events – in some cases echoing the style of talk radio or cable TV news. Slightly more than half of podcast listeners say they hear hosts or guests presenting their opinions on government and politics.

Among all podcast listeners, 54% say they at least sometimes listen to podcasts that include hosts’ or guests’ political opinions, including a quarter of listeners who say they extremely or fairly often hear this type of content. An additional 23% say they rarely hear this type of commentary. The rest (22%) say they never hear political opinions on the podcasts they listen to.

Many who hear political opinions on podcasts say they largely agree with what they’re hearing. About half of podcast listeners who have heard opinions on government and politics say they line up with their own opinions (47%), compared with only 7% who indicate that those opinions don’t line up with their own. At the same time, 46% say they hear an even mix of opinions from the hosts, some of which match their opinions and some of which do not.

There are broad similarities between the two major political parties in the United States in terms of the share who are listening to podcasts. But once there, Republicans and Democrats often have quite different experiences.

Just under half of Republicans and independents who lean Republican (46%) say they have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months. The share of Democrats and Democratic leaners who listen is slightly higher (54%), but about the same portion of listeners in each party say they listen at least a few times a week (42% of Republican listeners and 41% of Democratic listeners). And Democratic and Republican listeners are also about equally likely to say they hear about news on the podcasts they listen to.

However, there are differences between Republicans and Democrats in some of their experiences with the news they hear. For example, Republicans who listen to podcasts are more likely to trust the news they hear on podcasts more than news they get from other sources, to report hearing things they wouldn’t hear elsewhere, and to hear political opinions.

Among those who hear news on the podcasts they listen to, majorities of both parties expect that news to be largely accurate (88% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans say this). However, nearly half of Republican listeners who hear news discussed say they trust the news they get on podcasts more than the news they get from other sources (46%, vs. 19% of Democrats). In addition, Republican listeners are less likely to say they listen to podcasts connected to a news organization (14%, vs. 26% of Democratic listeners).

These sentiments may reflect a general distrust of many traditional media sources among Republicans overall.

And 40% of Republicans who hear news on podcasts say they extremely or fairly often hear news there that they wouldn’t have heard elsewhere, while about half as many Democrats say this (21%).

Among podcast listeners overall, Republicans who listen to podcasts are also somewhat more likely to be listening to content with political opinions. About three-in-ten podcast listeners who are Republicans (31%) say they listen to podcasts that include a host’s or guest’s opinions about government and politics, vs. 21% of Democratic listeners.

Within the parties, more ideological partisans are more likely to hear political opinions on podcasts. For example, among Republican podcast listeners, self-described conservatives are more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans to report listening to podcasts that feature political opinions (36% and 22%, respectively, say they hear this content extremely or fairly often), and the same is true of liberal Democrats when compared with moderate or conservative Democrats (24% vs. 17%).

Among those who hear political opinions on podcasts, Democrats are modestly more likely than Republicans (51% vs. 43%) to say that the opinions they hear line up with their own. This is especially common among liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Liberal Democrats (66%) are roughly twice as likely as conservative or moderate Democrats (30%) to say that the political opinions they hear on podcasts line up with their own. A similar pattern exists among Republicans: Conservative Republicans (52%) also are roughly twice as likely as liberal or moderate Republicans (24%) to say the opinions they hear align with their own.

Younger adults in the United States often use digital devices and media at higher rates than older adults, and they are much more inclined than their elders to engage with podcasts.

Two-thirds of adults under 30 say they have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months, as do almost six-in-ten respondents ages of 30 to 49 (58%). Listening drops off substantially among older groups, to 42% among those ages 50 to 64 and 28% among Americans 65 and older.

Younger groups of U.S. adults (ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49) also listen to podcasts more often than those ages 50 to 64 and 65 and older – with about half of all podcast listeners ages 18 to 29 (48%) and 45% of those 30 to 49 saying they listen at least a few times a week. That figure drops to 35% of those 50 to 64 and 27% of those 65 and older.

Younger adults also listen to more podcasts, on average. Nearly two-thirds of podcast listeners under age 50 (63%) say they are currently listening to two or more podcasts, compared with 54% of listeners 50 to 64 and 40% of those 65 and older.

While Americans who have received more education are more likely to listen to podcasts, age differences persist across all education levels. For example, about eight-in-ten adults under 30 with a college degree (79%) have listened to a podcast in the past 12 months, followed by 70% of college graduates ages 30 to 49, 57% of those 50 to 64 and 39% of those 65 and older.

(Among all adults – regardless of age – 62% of those with a bachelor’s degree have listened to a podcast in the past year, compared with 49% of those with some college and 37% with a high school diploma or less.)

A similar pattern holds true for adults at other education levels, such as those who attended some college and those who finished with a high school diploma or less.

Americans differ by age in why they listen to podcasts

The podcast experience is also profoundly different for younger and older adults. Younger listeners are more likely than their elders to say they listen for entertainment or to have something to listen to while doing something else, for example, while older listeners are more likely to say they turn to podcasts to stay up to date about current events.

Three-quarters of podcast listeners ages 18 to 29 say entertainment is a major reason they listen to podcasts, compared with just 30% of those 65 and older. And 70% of those youngest podcast listeners say having something to listen to in the background is a major reason they listen to podcasts. This share falls steadily in older age groups, down to 22% among podcast listeners 65 and older.

At least half of podcast listeners across all age groups say learning is a major reason they listen to podcasts, but this is the most common reason cited by those 65 and older, at 61%. And older podcast listeners are more likely than those 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 to say staying up to date with current events is a major reason they listen to podcasts: About four-in-ten listeners 65 and older (38%) say this, compared with a quarter of those 18 to 29.

The topics preferred by each age group also differ, with younger listeners more likely to listen to podcasts about entertainment and older listeners turning more to podcasts about politics and government.

Younger listeners engage with and take recommendations from podcasts more than older listeners

Younger groups of podcast listeners also are more likely than their elders to engage with podcasts in different ways, such as by following the podcast or its host(s) on social media, or by trying something (like a movie or a lifestyle change) because of something they heard on a podcast.

For example, about four-in-ten podcast listeners ages 18 to 29 (40%) and 30 to 49 (41%) say they have made or tried a lifestyle change because of something they heard on a podcast, compared with 32% of those 50 to 64 and 22% of those 65 and older.

The gap between age groups is even wider when it comes to the share who follow the social media account of a podcast or host: A clear majority of podcast listeners in the two youngest age groups do this (65% of those ages 18 to 29 and 57% of those 30 to 49), compared with 42% of those ages 50 to 64 and 24% of those 65 and older. (Younger adults are also more likely to use social media in general.)

Among podcast listeners, adults under 50 are more likely than their elders to report joining an online discussion group related to a podcast they listened to.  

Younger podcast listeners also are more likely to say they have recommended a podcast to someone else. About seven-in-ten podcast listeners ages 18 to 49 (72%) say they have done this, compared with 59% of podcast listeners 50 and older.

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This is the latest report in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the Center’s journalism and media research team, communications, design, digital and editorial teams. Find related reports online at journalism.org.

Research Team

Elisa Shearer, Senior Researcher
Galen Stocking, Senior Computational Social Scientist
Katerina Eva Matsa, Director, News and Information Research
Jacob Liedke, Research Assistant
Shreenita Ghosh, Research Associate
Sarah Naseer, Research Assistant
Christopher St. Aubin, Research Assistant
Mark Jurkowitz, Senior Writer
Jeffrey Gottfried, Senior Researcher
Naomi Forman-Katz, Research Assistant
Emily Tomasik, Research Assistant

Communications and Web Publishing

Sogand Afkari, Communications Manager
Andrew Grant, Communications Associate
Rachel Weisel, Associate Director, Communications  
Sara Atske, Associate Digital Producer

Editorial and Graphic Design

Michael Lipka, Editorial Manager, Religion Research
David Kent, Senior Copy Editor       
Margaret Porteus, Former Information Graphics Designer
Peter Bell, Design Director
Andrea Caumont, Digital Engagement Manager
Isaac Mei, Associate Social Media Strategist
Chris Baronavski, Senior Web Designer

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Overview

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish. The panel is being managed by Ipsos.

Data in this report is drawn from the panel wave conducted from Dec. 5 to Dec. 11, 2022, and included oversamples of Hispanic men, non-Hispanic Black men and non-Hispanic Asian adults to provide more precise estimates of the opinions and experiences of these smaller demographic subgroups. These oversampled groups are weighted back to reflect their correct proportions in the population. A total of 5,132 panelists responded out of 5,758 who were sampled, for a response rate of 89%. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 4%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 1%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 5,132 respondents is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.

Panel recruitment

The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 9,942 (50%) agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based recruitment. Invitations were sent to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. Sampled households receive mailings asking a randomly selected adult to complete a survey online. A question at the end of the survey asks if the respondent is willing to join the ATP. In 2020 and 2021 another stage was added to the recruitment. Households that did not respond to the online survey were sent a paper version of the questionnaire, $5 and a postage-paid return envelope. A subset of the adults who returned the paper version of the survey were invited to join the ATP. This subset of adults received a follow-up mailing with a $10 pre-incentive and invitation to join the ATP.

Across the five address-based recruitments, a total of 23,176 adults were invited to join the ATP, of whom 20,341 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. In each household, one adult was selected and asked to go online to complete a survey, at the end of which they were invited to join the panel. Of the 30,283 individuals who have ever joined the ATP, 12,449 remained active panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range.¹ The American Trends Panel never uses breakout routers or chains that direct respondents to additional surveys.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was non-institutionalized persons ages 18 and older living in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. It featured a stratified random sample from the ATP in which Hispanic men, non-Hispanic Black men and non-Hispanic Asian adults were selected with certainty. The remaining panelists were sampled at rates designed to ensure that the share of respondents in each stratum is proportional to its share of the U.S. adult population to the greatest extent possible. Respondent weights are adjusted to account for differential probabilities of selection as described in the Weighting section below.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with Ipsos. The web program was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the Ipsos project management team and Pew Research Center researchers. The Ipsos project management team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

Incentives

All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or a gift code to Amazon.com or could choose to decline the incentive. Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Dec. 5 to Dec. 11, 2022. Postcard notifications were mailed to all ATP panelists with a known residential address on Dec. 5. 

Invitations were sent out in two separate launches: soft launch and full launch. Sixty panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on Dec. 5. The ATP panelists chosen for the initial soft launch were known responders who had completed previous ATP surveys within one day of receiving their invitation. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Dec. 6, 2022.

All panelists with an email address received an email invitation and up to two email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. All ATP panelists that consented to SMS messages received an SMS invitation and up to two SMS reminders.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, the Center’s researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing clear patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for very high rates of leaving questions blank, as well as always selecting the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, five ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

Weighting

The ATP data is weighted in a multistep process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of selection for their initial recruitment survey. These weights are then rescaled and adjusted to account for changes in the design of ATP recruitment surveys from year to year.  Finally, the weights are calibrated to align with the population benchmarks in the accompanying table to correct for nonresponse to recruitment surveys and panel attrition. If only a subsample of panelists was invited to participate in the wave, this weight is adjusted to account for any differential probabilities of selection.

Among the panelists who completed the survey, this weight is then calibrated again to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Open-ended question asked in the survey of U.S. adults

In the questionnaire, U.S. adults were asked in an open-ended question to write in the name of the podcast that they currently listen to most. If respondents answered with the names of more than one podcast, only the first one was coded. In total, 1,563 open-end responses were coded.

All podcasts that were named by more than 1% of open-end responses were included in the topline. All other podcasts named that did not reach this threshold were combined into one “other” category.

Dispositions and response rates