Podcast Audience More Than 6 Million

[theFerf]

The number of people that have listened to podcasts has topped six million, according to The Pew Internet & American Life Project.

More than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players and 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing. That amounts to more than 6 million adults who have tried this new feature that allows internet “broadcasts� to be downloaded onto their portable listening device.

Read more... (http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/04/podcast_audienc.html)

Source: Podcasting News (http://www.podcastingnews.com/)
Podcasting News features the latest podcast news, along with reviews, hardware and software info, and a podcast directory.

[robaustin]

The data from this report is dubious. Don't forget that "downloaded a radio program from the internet" could very well be interpreted as downloading an NPR program (or other program) from Audible. The phrasing of the question is very flawed. I'd love to see the results if they'd used a question like "Have you ever used a podcatcher?" Audible has been offering a number of radio shows as downloadable files for quite a while - and have partnered with a number of online vendors to sell MP3 players - like iPods - so that people can do just that. If that's a portion of the data in that survey - then it's definitely skewed. I personally have a hard time believing 29% of people who own MP3 players have actually used a podcatcher and downloaded an actual "podcast." Especially considering that the podcasts with the largest listenership - like Adam Curry's Daily Source Code - are only up in the 80K range of steady subscribers.

--*Rob

[notyourusualbollocks]

Indeed - I would love to see the actual questionnaire. 'Podcast' needs to be clearly defined.

[Craig]

This is a duplicate of this post, which goes into much more detail on why the numbers are comletely bogus:

http://www.podcastalley.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=907

Craig

[yaz]

yea, those types of polls don't give numbers accurately, they just give a target for companies interested in getting involved...

[gavin]

Although, on the other side of things, this could generate more podcast listeners in the general audience. My girlfriend just sent me an IM that said, "Hey, there's a Google news story about that podcasting thing you keep talking about."

[Craig]

Yeah, between this and Paris Hilton we should be all set.

Craig

[yaz]

yea, the audience is going from geeky/semi-intelligent to braindead/barely breathing...