So, Pew has come out with its own podcasting statistics. And why the heck not since everyone is doing it.
The report (download here) states:
- Some 12% of internet users say they have downloaded a podcast so they can listen to it or view it at a later time.
- However, just 1% report downloading a podcast on a typical day.
- Men are more likely than women to report podcast downloading (15% compared to 8%)
- And those who have used the internet for six or more years are twice as likely as those who have been online three years or less to have downloaded a podcast (13% vs. 6%)
- 972 adult Internet users were surveyed over the phone (not a far cry from the 928 Canadians who took the Canadian Podcast Listeners Survey online back in May of this year)
Unbeknownst to me, Pew released a similar study back in April, but somehow, I missed it. What’s interesting to me is the weird contradiction between points #1 and #2 above. So, I went to their website to find out more.
Nadda. It just had a paragraph that listed points #1 and #2 together. I’m puzzled by this because if Internet users are downloading podcasts, it should just state one number.
The act of downloading is a mute point anyways since alot of people listen to a podcast via a player on the podcast’s webpage (podpage for short) or subscribe to podcasts and may only access them once a week through their favourite podcatcher.
For example, I subscribe to alot of podcasts in iTunes and listen to others by visiting their podpage. I don’t launch iTunes everyday, so of course I’m not downloading podcasts everyday. Even when I visit various podpages, I’m not downloading, I’m only listening.
I open iTunes twice a week, it updates the podcasts I’m subscribed to with new episodes (if it’s available) and then I listen. So, asking about downloading would be confusing to listeners. In their mind, if they’re already subscribed to a podcast, then yes, they’re not downloading on a typical day and hence the reason that number is low.
Also, measuring podcast adoption or listening rates using old media techniques is a flawed approach. People pick up a newspaper or listen to the radio to hear late breaking news. People aren’t not listening to podcasts in the same way simply because most podcasts are edutainment.
Coming to the conclusion that because podcasts aren’t listened to everyday that podcasting isn’t growing is like saying that your hair isn’t growing because the length is still the same 24-hours later.
Instead, the question should’ve been: “Are you listening to podcasts?” And the follow up question should be: “Are you listening to them everyday?”
Does my rambling make sense?
Technorati: pew, podcasting survey, podcasting statistics
I think it matters in understanding what users are doing with the programs because download to listen/ downlaod to time shift is the the thing that makes podcasts different from webcasts that are listened to on site, even a site like iTunes. In that sense and very narrowly speaking iTunes is a reincarnation of Audionet/Boradcast.com. So nothing new underthesub there. I have seen stats that indicate most listenership of programs happens in the iTune player as on-demdand programs which makes sense.
However for ubiquity as on line, onsite format Flash wins hands down.