The forecast: Podcast listening is on the rise globally with highest penetration rates in English-speaking markets. The US leads worldwide both in terms of production and penetration, but listener growth is rising the fastest in China.

A deeper dive:

• Other English-speaking countries have highest podcast adoption. Sweden, Norway, Australia, and Canada round out the top five countries in terms of podcast listening adoption.
• Core APAC markets lag behind other top-tier markets. China, Japan, and South Korea have the lowest podcast listener penetration of the markets we forecast.
• YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts are the top three biggest platforms globally with YouTube performing particularly strong in markets with a smaller native podcast market.
• Language barriers affect available content. English-language speakers have much more content available to them than non-English speakers with the bulk of that content coming from US podcasts.

Looking ahead: In international markets with successful traditional radio programs, there's a large movement towards repurposing radio shows into on-demand podcast content. Podcast listening will continue to grow worldwide, but English-speaking markets already have a massive head start.