A Quarter of Brits Listen to Podcasts Every Week

Podcasts are growing in popularity all of the time and this month some new data from OFCOM, the UK’s communications regulator, shows just how popular they are in the United Kingdom.

As a podcast production company which produces our own podcasts and podcasts for commercial clients, we were bowled over to see that half of people in the UK have now listened to a podcast with a quarter of people now listening to them regularly (at least once a week or more). This is brilliant news for the industry as it shows that podcasts are without doubt a mainstream form of media – and podcast listening is only expected to grow, especially with people returning to work and listening on the commute.

OFCOM provided some more interesting insights into why people choose to listen to podcasts, and 83% of UK podcast listeners agree that podcasts offer them something that they can’t get on the radio. Whereas podcasts were traditionally linked with entertainment content, we’ve seen a huge growth in businesses, organisations and brands who want to produce a podcast as an educational tool – 79% of UK listeners agreed that they feel more informed because of podcasts. Not only that, but 62% of listeners talk to their friends and family about what they’ve heard on a podcast with 48% going on to research a topic they’ve heard on a podcast further.

Some good examples of this include Breaking Ground, the podcast we produce with The Ground Forum and Ground Engineering Magazine in which experienced ground engineers discuss the big issues from their industry to engage their peers and young engineers who are yet to choose their specialty – and The Vagina Monopod, in which actors Sacha Parkinson and Molly Wright aim to educate young women on gynaecological health by discussing the subject openly and honestly to raise awareness and break taboos (something they don’t feel as if they benefitted from when they were learning about menstrual health at school).

Convenience is also a major benefit of podcasts, which can be downloaded or streamed on demand – 90% of UK listeners agree that they like the convenience of being able to listen to podcasts when it suits them. 

However, this convenience cannot come at the cost of quality – a massive 94% of listeners said that the quality of a podcast was important to them, compared to just 1% who thought that it wasn’t important. As the podcasting industry matures, production values are improving across the board – from the sound of the microphone to high quality production music. We can of course help you to make your podcast a professional podcast production, and we’d be delighted to hear from you if you’d be interested in working together.

So, podcasts are growing in popularity and they provide a fantastic communication tool to personalities, brands, businesses, organisations… Anyone who has a story and wants to connect with an audience, whether that be to entertain or to educate. This audience is growing in the UK and across the world – but they’re a discerning one. So, if you decide to produce a podcast… Make sure it’s of the highest possible quality!

Sound Rebel is a podcast production company in Liverpool. We produce professional podcasts for clients in the North West and remotely across the UK. Talk to us about starting a podcast for you – email hello@soundrebel.co.uk