Podcast Repurposing Has Never Been More Important

8 min readMay 23, 2019

We talk about podcast repurposing a lot here at Content 10x HQ, but just how necessary is it to attract and maintain a loyal following?

In my opinion, the Edison Research Podcast Consumer Report 2019 answers this question with a resounding — YOU MUST REPURPOSE YOUR PODCAST!!

This really insightful research study reveals lots of interesting insights about the podcasting audience in America and their behaviors.

I think there’s a lot we as content creators can learn about this data, from a content marketing and content repurposing perspective. Even if you don’t have a podcast it’s still a really interesting view of how people are consuming content in 2019.

The Podcast Consumer Report & The Infinite Dial

Each year, Edison Research and Triton Digital conduct a study called The Infinite Dial . This is a really useful study that tracks mobile behaviors, internet audio, podcasting, social media and more. It’s the longest-running survey of its kind in America whereby Edison Research conducts an annual telephone survey of 1,500 people aged 12 and older. The survey is carried out using a variety of digital dialing techniques to both cell phones and landlines.

The Podcast Consumer Report (the focus of this post and podcast episode ) incorporates data from the national telephone survey carried out by Edison Research on 1,500 people over the age of 12. On top of that, Edison Research also conducted a national online survey of 4,126 people aged 12 and over. This survey provided valuable online data that was weighted to match the Infinite Dial telephone demographics of those with internet access.

I think this research is so interesting! And, by taking the time to look closer at the findings it can help us discover more about the preferences and behavior of our potential audience when it comes to consuming content.

An Insight into Podcasting Familiarity & Listening

The Podcast Consumer Report concludes that familiarity with podcasts as a medium and podcast listening is on the up. This is great news for anyone who has been working the mic for years. And, those who are ready to dip their toes into podcasting as a medium to broadcast their message and form a stronger connection with their audience.

According to the study, 70% of Americans who are aged 12 and over are familiar with the term podcasting. In other words, 197 million Americans have some idea about what podcasts are.

But, is knowing the term enough to make any real impact?

Probably not. On the bright side, this number is up from 64% last year, which means podcasting is definitely on its way to becoming a mainstream medium.

Although the results from the study shows that over half of the US population have listened to at least one podcast episode, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all of those people listen regularly.

If you dig a little deeper, you’ll discover that 32% have listened to podcasts in the last month and this is the statistic that podcast creators should be paying attention to.

There’s at least 32% of the U.S. population that have some sort of interest in podcasts and if you want to reach them, you’ve got to know how to find them. This is where repurposing lends more than just a helping hand.

Why do people not listen to podcasts?

While 70% of people are familiar with podcasting, at least 19% of Americans who are aware of podcasts have never taken any action to listen to one.

So, what’s stopping them from tuning in?

However, just because 75% of the population say that podcasts aren’t for them, doesn’t mean that they aren’t a fan of YOU. You just need to know how to reach them besides your podcast. That’s why repurposing is so important.

When you repurpose your podcast, you can come up with other ways to reach the ‘non-listeners’:

For example turn your podcast into a blog post and reach people through the power of the written word
Or, you could video record podcasts as you record them and post the video to YouTube , LinkedIn, Facebook
You could also post on your website to reach those who prefer to consume content through video rather than audio
There’s SO much more you can do

Additionally, some other reasons why people do not listen to podcasts include:

Not having the time
Having the opinion that podcasts are too long
A preconception that podcasts don’t provide anything new and fail to cover topics of interest

Many non-listeners have a perceived lack of value when it comes to listening to podcasts. But, if you could reach these people via other forms of content they may become a fan … you could likely convince them to listen to your podcast. Although, if they’re consuming other forms of your content and that works for you both, then great!

Other reasons for not listening to podcasts were centered around technical concerns. Many people claimed that they didn’t have the necessary apps on their phone to tune into podcasts while others said that it took up too much data. Another common reason why people have never listen to podcasts is because they don’t know how to find or listen to a podcast.

One of the biggest takeaways for me is the apparent lack of information people have about how they can consume podcasts. So, the next time you mention your podcast to your audience, make sure that they know how they can listen, subscribe, and consume your audio content. It’s not patronizing to let people know how, tell them ‘it’s free’, address technical concerns, data concerns etc.

Who is listening?

So, now that we know why people aren’t listening to podcasts, let’s take a closer look at who is listening. The report shares lots of useful insights about who listens to podcasts according to their age and gender.

In recent years, there’s been a huge increase in the amount of men who listen to podcasts compared to women. For example, in 2017 and 2018, 27% of podcast listeners were men. This jumped to 36% in 2019 while female listeners also continue to increase from 21% in 2017 to 29% in 2019.

If you want to look at how age, household income, ethnicity and education level impacts the likelihood that they listen to podcasts each month, you can take a look at the report for more details.

An interesting revelation to come from the study showed that the people who said they had listened to a podcast in the last week, also said they listened to an average of seven different podcasts per week. This means they listen to a variety of shows.

So, what devices do people like to use to listen to podcasts?

Results from the study revealed that 65% use a smartphone or tablet
25% listen from a computer or laptop
Interestingly 10% use a smart speaker
In fact, 95% of podcast listeners are aware of smart speakers and 34% of them have one in their home

There’s no doubt that smart speakers are on the rise. Edison Research found that over 43 million people in the US have a smart speaker — that’s a lot of people.

If you want to find out more about smart speakers and how you can use one to reach a broader audience, check out episode 69 of the podcast — “ How to Repurpose a Podcast Into an Alexa Flash Briefing with Sigrun”

How do people find podcasts?

What was SO interesting for me was looking at how people find podcasts. After all, once you know how people go about finding their favorite podcasts, you’ll have a better idea about where to market yours.

The top way that people discover podcasts is online with a simple internet search. This is how 73% of people find podcasts but following closely behind at 67% is via social media posts.

Some other ways that people find podcasts is:

Through recommendations from friends and family, advertisements on other audio programs
Inside publications
Looking in apps such as Google Play and the iTunes Music Store

All of this makes repurposing so important.

Since the most common way for people to find podcasts is via an internet search (probably with Google), you need to make sure that you have a website. Without one, there’s little chance that your podcast will show up on search engine result pages when people look for it online.

It’s also a good idea to have show notes and other forms of content to help you get found by search. Having a range of content across different media and channels will help increase the likelihood of you getting found in search.

You should also remember to repurpose your podcast onto the different social media platforms where your audience is active.

Here are a few more episodes from the Content 10x Podcast on how to repurpose your podcast into content you can use on social media:

Remember that search and social help you to get found, which makes repurposing for search and social essential. I would argue that it’s even more important that recording that next episode!

What makes people listen more?

A few topics that consumers are most interested in include news/information, music, technology, food, self-improvement, business and many more.

But, what is it about podcasts that makes people want to listen to more of them?

According to the study, the top reason is to learn new things and to be entertained. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since podcasting is considered as a form of entertainment.

However, 50% of people admitted that they would listen to podcasts more if they were easier to discover while 45% said they would listen more if they were easier to download.

As you can see, we could all do a better job of making ourselves more searchable online. Also, we need to focus on educating our audience about how they can find our content.

In Conclusion

Clearly, there’s big growth in podcasting. Yay!

However, audience reach and education on what podcasts are and how to listen to them are still issues that we need to address.

The future of podcasting looks bright and there’s still plenty of room for growth. But, repurposing is SO important if you want to be found by online search and on social media.

Don’t assume people know what podcasts are and how to listen to them! If you want to grow your audience, you’ve got to make sure that they can find you and that they know how to consume your content when they do find you.

Thanks for reading!

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Originally published at https://www.content10x.com.