Podcast Listening: The Ride-Along Intentional Habit
From the Desk of PodSearch CEO, Dave Newmark
How much do you think about your daily routine? I mean really think about it. Most people think of habits as behaviors done automatically, without much thought, or those necessities to get things done, such as driving to work, folding laundry, or walking the dog, which require relatively little brain power. During these times, we have more “bandwidth” to use parts of the brain that process more executive functioning. And so, what better habit to keep the ‘thinking’ mind occupied during these routines than listening to podcasts?
Podcast listening has clearly become a very popular daily habit. According to the 2026 Infinite Dial report, a majority of the US population (58%) listens to podcasts on a monthly basis, an all-time high (estimated 167 million people).
Thinking about podcast listening as a habit, however, masks its magic as a medium to deliver response for advertisers. More than our other daily habits, the act of podcast listening itself is highly engaging due to:
- The intention of choice – a listener intentionally decides whether to listen to a given episode based on the topic, the guest, or the episode duration.
- The attention that the listener gives to podcast content compared to streaming TV ads, broadcast radio ads, streaming music ads, or cable TV ads.*
Routine habits are not inherently interesting, but they are necessary. Podcast listening is not necessary but certainly interesting to the listener who has chosen a particular show and episode. In this way, we can think of podcast listening as the perfect ‘Ride Along’ habit. It’s the combination of interesting content riding along with a routine habit that doesn’t take much brain power that gives podcast listening and advertising their true superpower.
Turn intentional listening into intentional results – PodSearch helps your company connect with audiences who are ready to hear your message.