One in Four U.S. Latinos Consume Podcasts

Some 25% of U.S. Latinos age 18+ have listened to a podcast in the last month, and 45% of U.S. Latinos age 18+ have ever listened to a podcast.

That’s according to the just-released The Latino Podcast Listener Report from Edison Research.

The study also shows increases in podcast listening for over half of U.S. Latinos age 18+ since the outbreak of COVID-19. 

The Latino Podcast Listener Report, conducted by Edison Research and commissioned by Adonde MediaLantigua Williams & Co., LibsynNPR, and Pandora, also finds that although 61% of U.S. Latinos are less likely to be familiar with the term “podcasting” than the total U.S. population (75%), there are hardly any Spanish-language dominant Latinos in the U.S. who are familiar with the term podcasting and aren’t already listening. 

The study also shows that 36% of U.S. Latinos have listened to a podcast in English, and 24% of U.S. Latinos have listened to a podcast in Spanish.  

Language dominance, in general, does not seem to correlate with the likelihood to be a monthly or weekly listener to podcasts, though:

  • 25% of all U.S. Latinos in non-Spanish-language dominant households have listened to a podcast in the last month compared to 26% of those in Spanish-language dominant households. 
  • 20% of all U.S. Latinos in non-Spanish-language dominant households have listened to a podcast in the last week, which is the same number (20%) as those in Spanish-language dominant households.

Among podcast listeners, however, there are some differences based on language dominance. Notably, podcast listeners in Spanish-language dominant households are much more likely to have begun listening to podcasts recently than those in non-Spanish-language dominant households. Seventy percent of Spanish-language dominant listeners have started listening in the last year, compared with 47% of non- Spanish-language dominant listeners. Of all U.S. Latino podcast listeners, 52% are listening to podcasts more since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Of U.S. Latino monthly podcast listeners, 55% are male, 50% are 18-34, and 47% identify as the first generation in the United States.   
 
“Today we learned that the majority of Latinos have only started listening to podcasts within the last year, and yet many are still unfamiliar with the term podcasting,” says Gabriel Soto, Manager of Research at Edison Research. “Latinos have been and will continue to be essential for the sustained growth of podcast listening,” said Soto. 

Adonde Media founder and CEO Martina Castro added, “It is so validating to see the data bear out what many of us have long known about the tremendous potential of the Latino podcast listening audience in the U.S., both in English and in Spanish. Now, the industry has the data that shows why making content for Latinos isn’t only the right thing to do, but is also simply a smart investment.”  

Other key findings about U.S. Latino monthly podcast listeners include: 

  • 80% say they are listening to podcasts more now than compared to one year ago 
  • 26% say they source they use most for podcast discovery is social media posts, followed by recommendations from friends and family at 22% 
  • 73% listened to an English podcast in the last month and 49% listened to a Spanish podcast in the last month 
  • 47% agree it is “somewhat important” or “very important” that the podcasts they listen to include stories about and perspectives from their countries of origin 

 


The Latino Podcast Listener Report may be downloaded here:

US Latino Podcast Listener Report Edison Research English.

 

How This Study Was Conducted 
2,500 online interviews were conducted May 5 – May 27, 2020. The survey was offered in both English and Spanish and is nationally representative of Hispanic/Latino adults age 18+. The data is weighted to match age/sex/country of origin of U.S. Hispanic/Latino population and The Infinite Dial 2020 podcast listening statistics. Share of Ear® is based on data from 4,000+ respondents through a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population age 13+. The survey is offered online and offline, and in English and Spanish. Share of Ear data included in this report was updated through Q1 2020, before the COVID-19 disruptions. 

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