Digital audio technology and advertising company Triton Digital has released its second “Canadian Podcast Trends Report,” which provides an overview of the country’s audio sector over the past year.
According to the study, monthly podcast listening continues to increase. Around 37% of English speakers reported listening to podcasts monthly in 2022, while 38% said the same in 2023. This increase is also present among the French-speaking population: about 25% of them consumed podcasts in 2022, while 28% did so in 2023.
The majority of podcast listeners are between the ages of 18 to 34, followed by 35 to 54. Men are the most likely to listen to podcasts (104% vs. 96% of women), and the majority of listeners are university graduates.
The report also showed that 77% of podcasts receive 10,000 downloads each month, with mobile devices accounting for 92.9% of all audio downloads.
Apple podcasts is the audio streaming service most used by Canadians (46%), followed by Spotify (19%), Google (4%), Castbox, Overcast and iHeartRadio (3% each). YouTube continues to lead the ranking of platforms used to access new podcasts. Around 50% use this service to access podcasts, while 46% prefer Spotify and 24% choose Apple.
Going deeper, Triton found that Spotify and Apple apps are used more by women than men, while men use YouTube the most. All three services are used more by those aged 18 to 34. About 40% of Apple users have an annual household income of more than $100,000, while 40% of YouTube users have an annual income of less than $50,000 per year.
The most popular podcast genres over the past year were true crime, news (23% each) and comedy (19%), with an average of 5.9 hours of downloaded content per listener per week. Anglophone respondents preferred news, society and culture, and comedy content. Francophones also prefer news and culture-related content, but opt for podcasts about science rather than comedy.
According to the report, sports and news are the genres with the most new episodes each month. True crime, meanwhile, is the genre that releases the fewest episodes.
Triton also looked at the top sales networks in terms of weekly download volume and most popular podcasts. Topping the sales network ranking was SiriusXM Podcast Network, followed by Wondery Network and CBC/Radio-Canada. The top podcasts are Dateline NBC (NBCUniversal News Group); SmartLess (Wondery Network); and Crime Junkie (audiochuck).
Front Burner (CBC/Radio-Canada); The World This Hour (CBC/Radio-Canada); and The Current (CBC/Radio-Canada) are the most popular English-language podcasts produced in Canada, while Le Radiojournal (Radio-Canada); Les chroniques de Pierre-Yves McSween (Cogeco Media); and Richard Martineau (QUB) were the most played titles among French-speakers.
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