34% of U.S. podcast listeners are new within a year, while Netflix tops Apple Podcasts in usage

A new study from Sounds Profitable, titled The Podcast Landscape 2026, shows that the U.S. podcast market is still adding a large number of new listeners rather than relying only on long-time users. Based on an August survey of 5,473 U.S. adults, 55% said they had listened to a podcast at least once in the past month. Among monthly listeners, 65% said the number of shows they regularly follow is three or fewer: 24% regularly follow three shows, 26% follow two, and 15% stick to just one. The report also found that 34% of podcast consumers started listening within the past year, up from 28% in 2025. That suggests new audience formation remains active, and that early-stage listener habits may matter more than broad but shallow reach. On distribution, YouTube led by a wide margin, with 63% of podcast consumers saying they had listened to or watched podcasts there over the past year. Spotify ranked second at 33%, while Apple Podcasts came in at 15%. Barrett Media highlighted another shift: Netflix reached 21% usage in its first year offering podcast content, ahead of Apple Podcasts. The data points to a broader change in how audiences define podcasts, with video platforms increasingly serving as major discovery and consumption channels.