American Podcasting Audience Soars

The U.S. podcasting audience reached 18.5 million in 2007, according to eMarketer and was projected to top 65 million by 2012 with 25 million listeners downloading one or more podcasts a week.

Ad spending on podcasts in the U.S. is also expected to creep up, from $165 million in 2007 to $435 million in 2012.

Major podcasting networks like Revision3 are growing with the medium’s success by revamping their websites and adding new programming.

If you’re not already a podcast consumer, then check out the podcast section in iTunes. There’s a lot of great stuff from tech shows to yoga workouts. And they are all free. I usually watch 5-10 podcasts a day on either my iPod Touch or Apple TV. Makes the bus ride to work much more enjoyable.

Here are a few favorites:

• Diggnation – weekly rundown of the front page stories on Digg.com
• Tiki Bar TV – drinking games
• Unboxing Live – take a new gadget, and open it up while the camera is rolling
• Midwest Teen Sex Show – explores topics concerning teen sexuality from gym class to syphilis
• The Totally Rad Show – movie, comic books and game reviews
• Make Podcast – how to tweak, hack, and bend technology any way you want
• Play Value – the history of video games.
• NBC Nightly News – the full TV broadcast sans commercials

methodshop