Who listens to podcasts – and why they matter to marketers

It’s a constant source of amazement to me that I don’t see more people using podcasts for marketing – and in particular, for B2B marketing. I think it’s partly a hangover from some misguided ‘podcasts are dead’ thinking from a few years ago; it’s partly because they haven’t thought through the value that the whole podcast dynamic brings to a content marketing strategy. Mainly though, it’s because they haven’t yet seen the numbers in this Infographic.

At LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, we’ve had great success with our Sophisticated Marketer’s series of podcasts (over 30 episodes and counting) – but we wanted to go further and explore how much potential there is for other marketers using podcasts as a content marketing tactic. The best way to do that was to ask our members whether they listened to podcasts – and so that’s what we did.

The following Infographic is based on a survey of more than 2,700 LinkedIn members worldwide – and if you’re someone who’s assumed that busy and important people don’t make time for podcasts, then you’re in for a surprise. Not only did we find that over a third of our members listen to podcasts globally; we also discovered that the level of engagement with podcasts increases significantly with seniority. Amongst department heads, VPs, owners and C-suites, 44% are listening. Put something imaginative and original together and they could be listening to you.