Happy World Radio Day. While podcasts and streaming platforms dominate headlines, traditional radio still commands extraordinary attention. According to Edison Research’s Infinite Dial study, ad-supported radio is listened to for more than three times as long as podcasts. For the podcast industry, that comparison is not discouraging—it is clarifying. There is still significant room for growth.
World Radio Day, recognized annually on February 13 by UNESCO, celebrates radio’s enduring role in informing, educating, and connecting communities worldwide. In 2026, it also serves as a reminder that audio’s oldest mass medium remains its most consumed.
Radio’s Listening Time Advantage
Edison Research’s Infinite Dial, one of the most widely cited annual studies on digital media consumption, consistently shows that ad-supported AM/FM radio dominates total listening time compared to podcasts. While podcast reach continues to rise year over year, radio still accounts for more than three times the total time spent listening in ad-supported audio environments.
That difference reflects habit, accessibility, and scale. Radio is built into cars, workplaces, retail environments, and homes. It requires no downloads, no subscriptions, and no algorithmic discovery process. For advertisers, it delivers predictable reach and frequency at scale.
For podcasters and audio marketers, the takeaway is straightforward: podcasts are growing—but they are not yet matching radio’s time-spent dominance.
Podcasts Are Growing, But the Gap Remains
Podcast consumption continues to expand globally. Monthly and weekly podcast listening has reached record highs in recent Infinite Dial reports, with younger demographics driving much of the growth.
However, podcasts function differently from radio. They are typically on-demand, topic-specific, and subscription-driven. Listening sessions are intentional rather than passive. While engagement levels can be deep, total time spent across the entire population remains smaller compared to radio’s habitual, background presence.
This gap underscores a key opportunity: podcasts still have substantial headroom in the broader audio market.
What World Radio Day Signals for Creators
World Radio Day is not just a celebration of legacy broadcasting. It is a reminder of what makes audio powerful in the first place:
- Ubiquity
- Simplicity
- Accessibility
- Habit formation
Podcast creators and audio platforms can learn from radio’s strengths. Frictionless access, strong show branding, consistent publishing schedules, and broad distribution remain essential for scaling listenership.
Radio’s dominance in ad-supported listening time also reinforces the value of advertising-supported models. While subscription podcasts and premium content are growing, the largest audio audiences still engage with free, ad-supported content.
Opportunities for Growth in Podcasting
If radio listening time is more than three times that of podcasts, the implication is clear: audio demand exists at massive scale. The opportunity for podcasting lies in converting more of that habitual radio listening into on-demand or hybrid audio experiences.
Several trends point toward that potential:
- Connected car dashboards increasingly integrate podcast apps alongside traditional AM/FM tuners.
- Smart speakers blend live radio streams with on-demand podcast playback.
- Cross-platform distribution allows shows to appear on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and web players simultaneously.
As discovery improves and friction decreases, the gap between broadcast radio and podcast listening time may continue to narrow.
A Complement, Not a Competition
Framing radio versus podcasts as a competition misses the broader point. Both formats contribute to a healthy audio ecosystem. Many radio broadcasters now produce podcasts, and many podcasters distribute through broadcast partnerships.
World Radio Day highlights radio’s staying power. Infinite Dial data highlights podcasts’ upward trajectory. Together, they demonstrate that audio remains one of the most resilient and adaptable media formats available to creators and marketers.
For podcast publishers, the message is optimistic. If radio still commands more than three times the listening time of podcasts, the growth ceiling for on-demand audio is far from reached.
There is plenty of growth to go.
More about radio:
Staff Report
Staff Report
Staff Report
