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The format argument is over. Audiences ended it by not caring.
80%
of fans consume podcasts across at least two formats.
65%
have started a podcast in one format and finished it in another.
75%
of them switched app or platform to do it.
Podcasting lets fans follow the creators they love wherever the moment takes them. That's what a medium looks like when the audience, not the platform, decides how it gets consumed.
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The podcast industry is obsessed with formats and platforms. Audio here, video there, social somewhere else.Audiences don't think that way. They're invested in the creators they love, and they follow them wherever they go. The morning run. The busy train. The couch at the end of the day. Those twenty minutes of peace before bed. Podcasting might show up in any of these, all of them, or just one.What's new in 2026 is how different those moments turn out to be. We went deep on four of them here. There are more. These are the four where the data was loudest, and where the distance between one moment and the next tells a brand the most.Meet a fan in one moment and you've met part of their day. Meet them across several and you've met the whole person.
Listen or watch? Increasingly, it's both
Audio vs. video — animated stacked bars
How people split their listening and watching, 2025 compared with 2026.
In 2025: only audio 4%, mostly audio 41%, audio and video equally 27%,
mostly video 13%, only video 15%. In 2026: only audio 5%, mostly audio 23%,
audio and video equally 47%, mostly video 20%, only video 5%.
The extremes of “audio-only” and “video-only” are rapidly disappearing. Today’s audiences demand a mixed-format experience.
Meet the moment, meet the whole person
If the format isn't what people are choosing, something else is. It's the moment they're in.
What their hands are doing, what their eyes are free for, and who else is in the room.
64%
say podcasts feel like a companion during their daily routines.
4 in 5
audio listeners have taken action after an episode. Even though there was nothing to click.
