Celebrating the growth of podcasts, September 30 is International Podcast Day

As the calendar flips to September, it's always a pleasure to give a shout out to mention International Podcast Day!

"Podcasting exposes us to people, ideas, and parts of the world we'd never thought we'd meet! We are truly an international community."

What started as a small and informal gathering of podcasters has grown into an international event.

International Podcast Day is an international celebration of the power of podcasts. The celebration is an excellent way to connect with podcasters, podcast listeners, leaders in the industry.

"International Podcast Day is a day long celebration of the power of podcasts and celebrating around the world. We broadcast 30 hours of live video content connecting podcasters, listeners, and audio enthusiasts worldwide. The podcast community continues to demonstrate the growth of the media and how important of a role podcasts play in our daily routines."

Each year, Edison Research completes a study on podcasting.

Here are some of the key findings:

Podcasting continues to steadily grow, as 44% of Americans 12+ now say they have ever listened to a podcast, up from 40% from last year. Podcasting’s in-car gains continue as well: a year ago, 18% of podcast listeners described the car as the place they most often listened to podcasts; this year, that number is 22%.

This year’s report spotlights the growth of Smart Speakers, voice-controlled devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Today, 18% of Americans 12+ (an estimated 51 million people), live in households that have at least one Smart Speaker. This means that Smart Speaker ownership has more than doubled from 7% just one year ago, which shows Smart Speaker adoption at a faster rate than the early days of the smartphone, which showed only 4% growth in a comparable timeframe.

What all this means: if you have never listened to a podcast, you are now almost in the minority.

Just as sports fans gather to watch games and their favorite teams, podcasters have set up gatherings for International Podcast Day. Here is a running list: https://internationalpodcastday.com/meetups-social-events/.

September 30 is a special day for podcasters and everyone who listens to or enjoys podcasts! Feel free to participate in any way.