For any industry, keeping tabs on the customer is critical. Are you listening, Spirit Airlines? Recently, Frontier Airlines dropped all customer service phone support for customers. I’m sure their customers were asking for that downgrade.

Thankfully, podcasting does a better job checking the blood pressure of listeners.

Cumulus Media, in partnership with Signal Hill Insights, has released Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download — Fall 2022 Report, a comprehensive evaluation of the podcast audience. The ninth edition of the study that examines weekly podcast listeners is part of Cumulus Media’s commitment to share insights and research findings with the podcast community.

“Our new Podcast Download Report reveals that podcast listeners are comfortable with the content they choose,” said Suzanne Grimes, EVP, Marketing for Cumulus Media and President, Westwood One. “Since listeners make a more active decision when choosing their podcasts, brand safety may be less of a concern with podcast advertising than with other forms of media.”

“Unlike push media like radio, TV or even social media, podcasting is a pull medium.” said Jeff Vidler, President and Founder of Signal Hill Insights. “Podcast listeners choose from hundreds of thousands of podcasts to find the ones that speak to them directly. They know the content they’re signing up for. That means the advertiser can feel some comfort that the listener approves of that content.”

The Fall 2022 edition reveals other valuable insights for content creators and advertisers. Some highlights from the report:

The majority of weekly podcast listeners have no problem listening to podcasts with language or content that might be considered unsuitable or objectionable. Even when considering True-Crime podcasts that might be graphic in nature, only a small percentage said they would turn off the podcast if they heard a disclaimer beforehand.

Watchable podcasts have grown in popularity. Driven by Podcast Newcomers, more listeners prefer podcasts with video they can actively watch or minimize, to listen in the background.

Podcast video is strong, but not necessary for all podcasts. 43 percent of weekly podcast listeners still prefer audio-only podcasts. Some podcast genres, like True Crime, do better with listeners who prefer audio only.

Weekly podcast listeners co-listen with their children. Half of weekly podcast listeners with children in their household say they have ever listened to podcasts with their children. 20 percent of weekly podcast listeners with children say they listen to podcasts with their children frequently.

Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download — Fall 2022 Report is available in full for download at: CumulusPodcastNetwork.com.

The study was executed from a nationally representative sample of weekly podcast listeners who represent 26 percent of the U.S. according to Edison’s Infinite Dial study. The report also examines heavy podcast listeners (those who listen 6+ hours per week) as well as when consumers started to listen to podcasts — Podcast Pioneers (4+ years ago), Podcast Newcomers (past 12 months).