Podcast Listening Is Up Among Young People. That’s Bad News for Radio – Billboard

Among listeners aged 13 to 34, spoken word audio now accounts for as much listening time as AM/FM radio — a dramatic shift from a decade ago. Soft focus of modern microphone placed on wooden table in recording studio during podcast Getty Images Earlier this year, young Americans’ listening habits reached a tipping point that doesn’t bode well for legacy media companies.   In the second quarter, AM/FM and podcasts both had a 14% share of time spent listening to audio in the 18- to 29-year-old age group. But just 11 years ago, AM/FM radio had a seemingly insurmountable lead: In 2014, Edison Research found that AM/FM listening held a seven-to-one margin over podcast listening in the same age group.  Related Edison noticed a surge in young consumers’ audio listening last year. Among all age demos, the biggest increase in time spent listening to spoken word audio was seen among listeners aged 13 to 34, who devoted 23% of listening time to spoken word audio, up from 11% in 2014. That compared with smaller jumps among adults 55 and over, who dedicated 28% of time spent listening to spoken word audio in 2024, up slightly from 26% a decade earlier. For
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