When it comes to podcast audiences, quality trumps quantity

Big media companies are paying big bucks for big podcasts. But what, exactly, makes shows like The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy, and New Heights worth millions of dollars?

It could be the quality, not just the size, of the podcast audience that justifies the high price tags for companies like Spotify, SiriusXM, and Wondery, which in turn sell ads into these shows, according to new research from Morning Consult.

“At first, [the podcast space] was this sort of refuge for smaller brands that didn’t have the budget to play on TV,” Ellyn Briggs, Morning Consult brands analyst, told Marketing Brew. “But now it’s essentially TV for very rich, well-engaged consumers, so obviously everyone wants to get in there.”

Big spenders: Frequent podcast listeners, defined as people who listen to podcasts at least once a week, make more money than the general population, and they’re not particularly stingy with it, according to a Morning Consult report based on surveys conducted from Aug. 27, 2023, to Aug. 27, 2024, among more than 68,000 respondents.

• Frequent podcast listeners are slightly more likely than the general population of US adults to make at least $100,000 per year and have investments worth $50,000 or more, per the report.
• Frequent listeners are also more likely to have advanced degrees, full-time jobs, and high-ranking job titles like CEO and director.

Outside of work, this group spends money on products and experiences more than the general population does, making them superconsumers, Briggs said:

• About three-quarters (72%) of frequent listeners shop on mobile apps at least once a week, Morning Consult found, compared to closer to half (57%) of all US adults.
• About one-quarter (27%) of podcast enthusiasts shop on social media weekly, compared to 16% of all US adults, and 55% use meal-delivery services that often, compared to 37% of the general US adult population.
• Podcast fans also over-index when it comes to eating out at restaurants, attending live events, traveling, and exercising.

“They have more money than the general population, and they are looking to spend it in every way possible,” Briggs said. “Based on this profile, it’s a pretty good bet that you will get some sort of return on an investment in podcast ads.”

Tastemakers: Beyond their own spending habits, regular podcast listeners are also positioned to make recommendations to others and participate in culture, per the report. They’re more likely to use every platform that Morning Consult tracks across social, news, and streaming, and the gaps between their consumption and that of all adults are significant, Briggs said.

• There’s a 21 percentage-point gap between the share of podcast fans (55%) and all US adults (34%) who use Reddit. The gap is 18 points on X and 16 points on both LinkedIn and Instagram.
• There are similar gaps between the shares of frequent listeners and the general population when it comes to consuming news from the New York Times and CNBC.
• HBO and Hulu content is similarly more commonly consumed by the podcast audience.

Their presence on these “culture-driving platforms makes them all the more lucrative” for advertisers, as they’re likely to make recommendations if they hear about a product they like, Briggs wrote in the report.

“A podcast listener can go and be a mini-advertiser of your product to their own personal networks,” she told us. “They’re a second line of offense for brands…They’re out there in the world, and they’re not afraid to have a voice of their own and use it to talk about what they’re using and doing in their lives.”