A. Guttmann
Research Lead covering media
Podcast consumption in Latin America - statistics & facts
While post-pandemic indicators and enthusiastic creators proclaim the start of a golden age for podcasts, Latin Americans are listening. Approximately one out of four internet users in the region's largest economies, Brazil and Mexico, consumed that type of digital audio file as of mid-2021. The rise of the medium also translates into an increasing number of clients for the sector's top provider. At the end of 2019, the number of Spotify monthly active users (MAUs) in Latin America stood just below 60 million. Exactly two years later, the figure surpassed 85 million – a growth of over 40 percent. And audiences are not only seeking songs and moods. Music plays a crucial role in Latin America's mediascape, permeating the usage of radio, audio streaming services, and even YouTube. However, it also influences the spoken-word segment, with more than half of listeners in markets like Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Mexico consuming podcasts about music.
Promising podcasting in Mexico
The outlook in the northernmost Latin American country suggests solid expansion. A global study estimated that there were approximately 34 million podcast listeners in Mexico in 2022 and that the figure would increase by 18 percent within three years, reaching 40 million by 2025. Details on consumers' choices also show that the path to that growth is paved with a mosaic of preferences. As previously stated, music is among Mexicans' favorite podcast genres, but so is comedy. About 60 percent of listeners surveyed in early 2021 mentioned at least one or both subsegments when asked about their consumption habits. Spotify is not so alone in that market, despite still holding unassailable hegemony. Nearly one-fifth of listeners in Mexico reported using Google Podcasts. A similar share of the interviewees said they access the podcasters' website or app to listen to them.The Brazilian podcast boom
COVID-19 had a lasting impact on podcast consumption in Brazil. Between March 2020 – when the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic – and March 2022, the share of Brazilian internet users listening to podcasts went from 13 percent to almost 30 percent. That put podcast consumption among the leading internet activities in Brazil, ahead of job seeking, tweeting, and downloading games, movies, or series. This upward trend in demand is also reshaping legacy media in the Portuguese-speaking country. Consolidated radio brands from Brazil publish some of Latin America's most listened to podcasts, placing news organizations such as Globo and Folha de S. Paulo amidst the region's most popular podcasters.
