Saudi Gazette report

DUBAI — As the global boom in podcasting continues, spurred by the sudden increase in home working, new research released today has revealed there are 5.1 million regular listeners in Saudi Arabia, with one in four women (21 percent) listening to podcasts every week.

That’s according to new statistics released by the broadcast specialist, markettiers MENA, and supported by global podcasting consultancy 4DC for a first-of-its-kind study into the podcast landscape in Saudi Arabia.

The results reveal a nation that values the story-telling nature of the podcast medium above all else, with nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the adult population having listened to a podcast and 15 percent of the adult population tuning in regularly, at least once a week. The report puts Saudi Arabia on a similar par with the UAE, with 16 percent (1.3 million) of the adult population tuning in at least once a week to a podcast.

When it comes to those trailblazing the podcast trend, almost twice as many women (21 percent) define themselves as regular podcast listeners compared to 11 percent of men. The reasons women value podcasts so much is that they provide dedicated content to cater to their specific interests (69 percent), they can listen whilst doing other things (61 percent) and they value the storytelling nature (49 percent) of the medium.

The research, carried out during the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak canvassed the thoughts of more than 2,000 adults in Saudi Arabia and revealed that nine in 10 (93 percent) of those surveyed trust podcasts more than any other medium.

According to Cheryl King, managing director of markettiers MENA: “We’ve long known that there has been a burgeoning podcast community in Saudi Arabia, but there has been little data until now to identify just how many people are listening, what they’re listening to and why. Following the success of our UAE podcast report, we are excited to launch the first ever study into podcast consumption in Saudi Arabia.

“The full results which will be released shortly highlight the huge relatively untapped opportunity that exists for brands to engage with connected audiences in a powerful way. Now more than ever in the current climate, the time is now for podcasts.”

The preview data has been released ahead of the full markettiers KSA podcasting report — the first dedicated report looking into the podcast habits of KSA. Due to be released in May, you can pre-register to receive a copy here: https://markettiers.com/podcasts/