Before we even got to the data, Acast’s updated Podcast Pulse for 2026 made a serious impact with a refreshed design and a clear focus on contextual listening. Last year’s report highlighted podcasts’ ability to blend scale, deep attention and trust to shape consumer behaviour. This year, the story has very much evolved, offering deeper insight into how, where and why audiences engage with this type of audio, and what these dynamics actually mean for marketers.
Acast CEO Greg Glenday introduced this year’s findings, capturing a core behaviour influencing the medium: “Audiences don’t think that way… What they pick is simply whatever fits the moment or mood they’re in.” Reading on, the data strongly validates this: 63% of respondents started a podcast in one format and finished it in another, with 75% of them switching app or platform to do so.
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know these stats align directly with our approach at audioadpro. We know listeners aren’t necessarily thinking about which platform they’re using to tune in; they simply choose what works there and then. We see listeners move fluidly across apps, devices and different audio environments, so it’s reaching the right consumers wherever they choose to press play that is key.
Patterns in media consumption continued to emerge: 88% of respondents now consume both audio and video podcasts (up from 78% last year!), and 49% expect to increase their podcast listening in the coming years. Audio also continues to thrive in environments where it operates without competition from screens. As Acast puts it, “half of audio listening is a preference, not a constraint”, and audio “serves a very real and important purpose in audiences’ daily routines, where a screen is either unavailable or simply unwanted.”
At the same time, video is definitely expanding podcasting’s footprint, with connected TVs allowing brands to reach co-viewing household audiences, and live podcast events deepening creator-community engagement in person.
For media planners, maximising performance means understanding both audience intent and listening context. And with 95% of marketers reporting that podcasts capture attention better than other media formats, the opportunity is undeniable.
Podcasting also remains an intimate channel: 56% of listeners describe podcasts as feeling like a one-to-one conversation, creating a uniquely effective environment for tailored audio creative. That intimacy can translate into action, too, with 81% of listeners reporting that they have taken action after hearing an audio-only podcast – 30% of listeners looked at a brand’s website, and 25% made a direct purchase.
For audioadpro, these findings validate what we see every day: podcasts deliver a rare combination of scale, attention and trust. By placing podcasts within a unified audio strategy, we ensure brands benefit not just from the power of one channel, but from the momentum of the whole digital audio ecosystem working together.
Read the full report: Acast Podcast Pulse 2026
