I asked Intern Matt to do a little Web research. The question: “Who is blogging and podcasting?” He found lots of stats that I’ll list below. Matt only listed findings from 2005 & 2006 and where there were contradictions, he went with the more popular “theory.” Not perfect, but it does give us a starting point. I’ve listed his sources at the end of each list.

Blog Stats

  • Most bloggers write creatively or about personal experiences and only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology.
  • US bloggers are evenly divided between men and women, and 40 percent of U.S. bloggers are non-white.
  • 8 percent of US internet users (12 million adults) keep a blog. Five times as many, 39 percent (57 million adults), read blogs.
  • 55 percent of bloggers write under a pseudonym.
  • Four out of five blogs use text, while 72 percent display photos and audio links play on 30 percent of blogs.
  • Blog readers are an attractive audience to advertisers: they are more likely young, wealthy, on broadband, and spend significantly online.
  • Compared to the average Internet user, blog readers are significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger, and connect to the Internet via high-speed connections.
  • Blog readers visit nearly twice as many Web pages and are much more likely to shop online.
  • The growing blog audiences is a strong appeal to many advertisers and marketers

Sources:
http://www.nevillehobson.com/2006/07/19/latest-blog-trends-from-pew-internet/
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp
http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/demographics/article.php/3526591
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050809EMarketingNewsAlertBlogReadersYoungRichandMale.html

Podcast Stats

  • Average prediction from most internet sources is that by 2010, the podcast audience will reach an average of 56 million listeners.
  • Men are most likely to listen to a podcast.
  • Average blog/podcast consumer is male with income $75,000+.
  • Those who regularly use RSS/XML feeds, podcasts, and blogs, usually have 5+ years of online experience, are male, and between 18-34 years old.
  • Those who listen to podcasts are usually ones to spend money online.
  • Podcast listeners comprises of a small audience in relation to total internet users.
  • Right now, the people listening to podcasts are consumers who get excited about next-generation technology. They are music and technology enthusiasts and tend to be affluent and educated.
  • The study shows that currently approximately 20% of users who have ever downloaded a podcast do so and listened on a weekly basis. This group downloads an average of six podcasts per week and spends approximately four hours a month listening to the podcasts they download.
  • Approximately 4.8 million listeners in 2005 and 820,000 in 2004
  • Advertisers looking to podcasts as a new market and medium.

–
Sources:
www.podtrac.com
www.eweek.com
www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=597303
www.adweek.com/aw/iq_interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002312800
www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/11/survey_finds_48.html
www.bridgeratings.com/press_11.12.05.PodProj.htm

Leave a Comment