Research Shows New Zealand a Nation of Podcasters

Wednesday, 19 June 2019, 9:42 am
Press Release: Radio New Zealand Limited

RNZ and Acast reveal New Zealand’s most in-depth podcast audience report, revealing the rapid rise of podcast listenership and engagement

19 June, 2019 // Auckland, New Zealand: Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and its hosting and distribution partner, Acast, today released New Zealand’s most in-depth podcast audience research, highlighting dramatic audience growth and brand engagement from local listeners.

The first ever New Zealand podcast study surveyed 1,006 local residents, revealing one in three (31%) listeners consume podcast content at least once a week, with society and literature themed podcasts ranking the most popular in New Zealand. Half (48%) of all podcast listeners are aged under 45 years-old.

The survey complements Acast internal data, which shows a staggering 107% listener increase in the past ten months, reflecting the rapid growth in the popularity of podcasts in New Zealand.

“It’s great to see some reliable insight into just how popular podcasts are becoming,” Tim Watkin, RNZ’s Executive Producer, Podcasts & Series, said. “We know how popular podcasts are on RNZ National and rnz.co.nz, but the fact a third of listeners are consuming podcasts every week shows people are getting hooked.”

“Once you start and get drawn into the stories and the ability to listen to whatever you want, whenever you want, it’s addictive.”

RNZ is by far the largest podcast-maker in New Zealand, currently producing 44 podcasts with shows including The Detail (daily news), Eating Fried Chicken in the Shower (comedy mental health) and Nanogirl’s Great Science Adventures (kids science), as well as adapting its most popular radio programmes.

The broadcaster’s partnership with Acast, the world’s largest podcast company, further cements its commitment to local podcast content and audience growth.

As RNZ’s hosting and distribution partner, Acast will deliver a strong technical infrastructure for the network’s podcasters to manage, grow and distribute content across all platforms.

“The research shows New Zealand is one of the fastest-growing and actively engaged podcast markets globally,” Acast Managing Director, Henrik Isaksson, said. “This type of research is exactly what brands, agencies and publishers need to see in order for the industry to see further growth.”

“In addition to audience growth, we’re incredibly excited by the local brand engagement opportunities – particularly given half of New Zealand’s podcast listeners say they’re more likely to consider a sponsored brand, product or service due to their affinity with a podcast.”

Commenting on the relationship between RNZ and Acast, Isaksson added, “Our partnership will help fuel further growth of RNZ’s podcasts while allowing advertisers to deliver targeted messages in an engaging, audio-on-demand format.”

Mr Watkin agrees RNZ is delighted to join forces with Acast and says RNZ remains ad-free on its radio, website and app.

“We’re stoked about the data and distribution services Acast will provide, which will help us understand and grow our audience”.

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About the research
The nationwide research was conducted in New Zealand through the independent Pureprofile panel and put together by Fresh Focus. The research was nationally representative of age, gender and location with a total of 1,006 respondents. The research was conducted February 8th - 13th 2019.

About Radio New Zealand (RNZ)
RNZ is New Zealand’s only independent non-commercial public service broadcaster, serving the public interest by delivering exceptional news, current affairs and cultural programming across multiple platforms wherever, whenever and however audiences choose to receive it.
In a global media environment where audiences have more choice than ever before, attention shifts to those media sources which best meet the public needs. In recent years RNZ has transformed itself from a traditional radio broadcaster to become a modern multi-media organisation providing content across a variety of digital channels.

Being audience-led RNZ uses research to improve our insights into audiences and potential audiences and makes full use of that knowledge to develop new services and products.
Delivery of intelligent, high quality news, information and entertainment to an increasingly discriminating audience remains our competitive advantage and is critical to the continuing success of RNZ.

About Acast
Acast is the world’s largest podcast company. Since 2014, Acast has been the engine powering audio for makers all over the world. At its core, Acast connects audio makers with the financial support they need to create amazing content while also delivering the audience they want. Acast works with podcasts globally including My Dad Wrote a Porno, Off Menu, David Tennant Does A Podcast With, The Adam Buxton Podcast, Sanspants Radio, Alice & Bianca, Watch What Crappens and Varvet as well as those of publishers such as the Times, the Economist, Guardian, VICE and Vogue. As a global business, Acast has offices around the world from Stockholm to Sydney and a team of 155 talented audio lovers working diligently to create a sustainable audio and voice ecosystem to ensure that the audio industry continues to grow and flourish.

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