The RAJAR Autumn 2025 MIDAS survey — the UK’s leading audio research study on how people consume audio — shows that podcast listening remains steady, with 24% of UK adults tuning in weekly. This reflects ongoing, sustained demand for podcast content across the country.
Podcast Listening Stay Consistent in the UK
According to RAJAR’s Autumn 2025 MIDAS data, 24% of UK adults (aged 15 and over) listen to podcasts in an average week — roughly one in four adults. These weekly listeners are highly engaged, consuming an average of 9.0 hours of podcast content per week, which translates to about 127 million hours of podcast listening each week across the UK.
By comparison, in the United States, weekly podcast listening among people aged 13 and older reaches an estimated 773 million listening hours, highlighting the global scale of the medium. (U.S. data referenced for context.) Note: US figure for comparison only, not from RAJAR data.
Audience Engagement: Completion and Listening Habits
The MIDAS survey also reveals strong engagement among UK podcast listeners:
- 88% say they listen to all or most of each episode they start.
- 78% report listening to more than half of the episodes they have downloaded, suggesting that at least 12% of downloaded episodes are never played.
These metrics indicate that podcast listeners in the UK are not only sampling content but are often committed to consuming substantial portions of the shows they choose.
Genre and Demographic Patterns
The report highlights interesting trends in genre preferences and gender differences:
- Comedy is the most popular podcast genre among UK listeners overall.
- Male listeners engage with “news and politics” content at similar levels to comedy, while female listeners engage with news and politics shows at about half the rate of men, indicating notable demographic differences in genre consumption.
These patterns point to varied listening motivations and content preferences across different audience groups.
What This Means for the Podcast Industry
The Autumn 2025 MIDAS findings suggest that podcast listening in the UK has stabilised rather than declined, maintaining a significant weekly reach and strong engagement levels among listeners. This stability underscores podcasts’ role as a consistent medium within the broader audio landscape — even as other formats like live radio and on‑demand music continue to dominate total listening hours.
For creators and advertisers, the RAJAR data offers valuable insight into who is listening, how much they engage, and what types of content attract UK audiences. As the audio space evolves, such metrics remain essential for strategic planning and content development.
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