In the early 2000s, podcasts were created. Podcasts were originally created as an audio attachment to a device called an iPod. This device was used to play music in a smaller and compact device. Adam Curry and Dave Winer invented the podcast. They created this form of media since they wanted to figure out how to broadcast radio audios onto the iPod, a device a large population of people owned. To make this dream a reality, Steve Jobs introduced the idea of podcasting to the iTunes platform. This made it available for Apple users to download and listen to thousands of podcasts to Apple devices, online and offline. The first modern podcast was called “audio blog post: back then.”
As the years went on, podcasts began to grow. People realized this is an effective way to spread information and entertainment around the world through a budget-friendly media platform. The podcasts started as just audio files but quickly began to evolve and gain special effects and editing. This is where podcasts began to have an intro/outro, background music, deletion, and addition.
In 2016, iTunes had a total of 10 billion podcast downloads. As the podcasting platform continues to expand, Spotify had 4.7 million podcasts in January of 2023 and Apple had 2.5 million. Out of all of these podcasts only around 450,000 still continue to post episodes, but with the popularity of podcasts growing, these numbers are projected to increase.
Since podcasts came out during a time of growing technology, the majority of younger audiences are the ones keeping the podcasts running. Around 67% of podcasts are listened to by people between the ages of 18-44. Around 79% of podcast listeners broadcast them through their mobile cellular device. Starting with the iPod, the broadcasting had transitioned to the iPhone. On these devices they are created with Apple podcasts, meaning that these phones are already prepared to play podcasts whenever you like.
Since podcasts are now available in over 150 languages, this continues to grow its target audience. Chile, Argentina, and Peru are the top three countries that podcasts are growing the quickest in. The podcasting market in 2023 was worth $23.56 billion, this number is projected to increase in the year 2024. The estimated market worth in 2025 is $38.36 billion.
With the continuing growing number of podcasts, listeners, and market worth, the podcasting platform is at its peak compared to the past. The number of listeners is estimated to be 504.9 million in 2024. It’s safe to say that Curry and Winer’s idea of carrying your radio with you turned into a much bigger platform than expected.
