SPA

SPORTS PODCAST FANS LISTENING BEHAVIOURS IN 2024

During the Sports Podcast Awards voting window, over 50,000 sports podcast listeners around the world were asked about their listening habits & behaviours.

This covered 6 continents, all demographics and included listeners of podcasts from multiple different sports - from Cricket to Curling and from Rugby to Rowing.

Here are some of the findings…

A TALE OF TWO FOOTBALLS

Which Is The Most Engaged Sport?

8%

29%

6%

4%

33%

Football is the winner here - the American version slightly edging out “Soccer” as the category with the most votes overall in the Sports Podcast Awards.

SPORTS FANS ARE SPORTS NUTS!

Number Of Different Sports Listened To Per Week

Number Of Sports Podcasts Listened To Per Week

4+

7+

2-3

2-3

4-6

90% of people listen to more than one podcast per week, with more than half listening to 4+ different podcasts each week. 61% listen to multiple sports, with 13% listening to 4+ each week.

WOMEN'S SPORT ON THE RISE

1 in 4 winners were podcasts about women's sport, which is a huge increase from just 8% back in 2022.

300% increase in the number of women’s sport podcasts that entered YoY

SPOTIFY LEADS THE WAY

What Podcast Platform Do Sports Fans Use?

43%

36%

29%

3%

14%

Spotify is the leading platform, followed by Apple & YouTube. Brand loyalty is strong with 79% of people only listening to the one platform.

The Best Of The Rest

Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts and BBC Sounds were the top 'Other' platforms with brands such as Overcast, Podcast Addict, The Athletic, Castbox and Podbean challenging for market share.

THE MORNING COMMUTE IS KING!

When And Where Do Sports Fans Listen?

64%

27%

55%

48%

40%

48%

20%

30%

36%

56%

Over two-thirds of people listen at multiple times throughout the day and across multiple different contexts.

IGNORE SOCIAL MEDIA AT YOUR PERIL!

Do Sports Fans Follow Podcasts On Social Media?

31%

69%

The majority of sports podcast listeners follow their favourite podcasts on multiple other social platforms.Although YouTube listeners are less likely to follow on social media vs users of other platforms.

USA vs UNITED KINGDOM

User Behaviours And Habits

US based podcast fans consume more podcasts weekly than UK based fans.

They also listen to more sports than UK listeners.

Apple edges the consumption in the US, but Spotify reigns supreme in the UK.

Relaxing is the most common use-case for UK fans to listen to their sports podcasts vs commuting in the US.

DECODING THE DATA

The Sports Podcast Awards celebrates the best creators in the sports content space, whilst uniting a community of sports podcast listeners around the world. With nearly 1,000 entries across 20 countries around the world, and 20 different categories covering all sports, we received over 100,000 votes in total.

These questions were asked during the voting process, giving us a unique perspective into the listening habits and behaviours of sports podcast fans. For more information on the Sports Podcast Awards, head to www.sportspodcastgroup.com

41% UK40% US 18% OTHER

VOTERLOCATION

46% UK44% US 10% OTHER

PODCAST LOCATION