Far more exciting than winning “World's Best Cup of Coffee,” Edison Research revealed that as of Q4 2025, Americans spent more time listening to podcasts than spoken content on AM/FM radio!
Notice that this isn't tracking the number of Americans or the number of shows. This evaluates the most important currency we have as humans: time. How we invest our 24 hours makes a massive difference, and more Americans are now intentionally choosing to invest their time in podcasts.
The steady decline of AM/FM radio talk content is staggering. In 2015, radio held 75% of spoken-word listening time. Today, in 2025, it has dropped to 39%. Podcasts, on the other hand, were at a mere 10% in 2015. Today, they account for 40% of the time spent listening.
AM/FM radio is dying
I recently attended and spoke at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention. In a digital media committee meeting, someone spoke passionately about their efforts to keep AM and FM radio accessible in modern cars. I had a fierce internal debate before finally speaking up. I joked that they might hate me or kick me out for saying it, but I told them that fighting to keep AM/FM radio is a losing battle. Ultimately, it will die. We need to make digital our primary focus.
I see AM/FM radio dying in four specific ways:
- Availability is vanishing. AM radio causes interference in many electric vehicles, so it's being actively removed. Have you bought a device that receives AM/FM signals recently? I haven't in over 25 years. The only working radio in my house is my original teenage stereo, and I only keep it because the attached speakers are better than my TV's built-in sound.
- The content is dying. Terrestrial radio broadcasts the exact same handful of topics across the board: sports, politics, news, finances, relationships, and religion. You aren't going to find niche content. Making matters worse, actual content is increasingly being pushed out by heavy advertising just to cover the station's broadcasting bills.
- The desire is dying. Why would I wait for an appointed broadcast time just to have someone else decide what I should listen to, only to be interrupted by traffic reports and weather on the fives? People desire more control over their listening habits, which explains the massive drop in listening time.
- The audience is literally dying. There is no delicate way to put it. The average age of an AM/FM consumer is much older than that of a podcast listener, and that demographic is fading while younger audiences choose completely different ways to consume their content.
Podcasts are thriving
Podcasting doesn't have the expensive restraints of traditional radio. We can talk about whatever we want, make episodes as long or short as we want, and skip the FCC constraints placed on broadcast radio. Many highly successful podcasters are recording in a hot closet with a $50 microphone, getting audio quality that rivals radio, and building much deeper relationships with their listeners.
Podcasts are thriving in the exact same four areas where radio is dying:
- Availability: It seems like every device has a podcast feature now. Apps, smart TVs, and modern car digital dash systems have podcasts built right in without even needing to pair your phone.
- Content: The content has been thriving since the beginning. When I had a 90-minute commute back in 2005, talk radio was frying my brain cells. I wanted to listen to what I wanted, when I wanted to. You can find a podcast about literally anything, and if you can't, you can start one and connect with an audience desperately waiting for it.
- Desire: Listening to a podcast is an intentional choice. Years ago, I used my parents as a social experiment. I never educated them on podcasts; I just waited to see when they would desire them unprovoked. When they finally started telling me about the shows they were listening to, I knew podcasting was mainstream. People love podcasts so much they even use “pod speeding” (listening at 1.5x, 2.5x, or in my crazy case, sometimes effectively 3x speed with silence reduction) just to consume more of it.
- Audience: Podcasting has enabled more entrepreneurs than any other past medium. Decades ago, experts sold their training on expensive cassette programs for hundreds of dollars. Today, audiences can get that same expertise for free. Look at John Lee Dumas with Entrepreneurs on Fire—he desired content to inspire his entrepreneurial journey, couldn't find it, created it himself, and helped countless others thrive in the process.
Takeaway: embrace a niche
So, how do you capitalize on this thriving medium? Yes, there are millions of podcasts out there, but far fewer are actively publishing. The competition isn't as big as it seems. Your magic weapon is this: embrace a niche.
Your niche can be your actual subject matter—like a show dedicated purely to dinner recipes for busy moms of toddler boys. But it doesn't have to be.
Your niche can also be your approach, perspective, or experience. Years ago, I hosted a podcast about the TV show Once Upon a Time. There were plenty of other podcasts about the show, but we survived them all because our niche was diving incredibly deep into Easter eggs and fan theories. Another podcaster covered the exact same TV show, but their niche was heavily poking fun and laughing along with the absurdities. Same subject, completely different niches.
Your approach separates you from everyone else. Figure out what makes your unique perspective special and amplify it. You want to be the answer when a listener tells their friend, “You've gotta listen to this podcast because…”
Embrace a niche so that you, your podcast, and your audience can thrive!
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
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