As of the end of 2025, 55% of Americans listened to podcasts at least monthly, and 40% listen at least weekly. (And there are at least six countries with higher weekly listener numbers than that.) These numbers require us as leaders and people interested in learning and development to consider podcasts as a medium for learning. Are they purely entertainment, or can they be a serious learning platform as well? The title suggests my belief.
Most Popular Podcast Genres
Before we get to my how-tos on a podcast learning strategy, let’s look at the most popular podcast genres in the United States (according to Edison Research):
- Comedy
- News
- Society and Culture
- True Crime
- Sports
- Business
- Education
- Health and Fitness
- TV and Film
- Religion and Spirituality
- Arts
- History
- Music
- Science
- Leisure
Unless you are trying to become a better comedian, or are studying criminal justice, you can see that most people are listening to some genres from an entertainment perspective. This is great, and nothing that follows is meant to downplay or denigrate using podcasts as an entertainment purpose. But for most of the list, chances are at least some, if not all, of the reason for listening/or watching is to learn something.
Podcast Learning Strategies
Author and colleague Tim Sanders says it best, “Education without application is just entertainment.”
Once we parse out the entertainment-only purposes for listening, how do we make sure we are getting the education or learning value we want from all we are listening to?
Here are four suggestions for you.
- Pick carefully. There are millions of podcasts available, and the quality isn’t all the same, so pick podcasts that meet your needs in both these ways.
- Topics. Even if you love the show and the host, not every episode might match your learning needs. Pick topics that you can apply, and your ability to apply what you hear goes up.
- Hosts. Do the hosts have a style that works for you, a perspective that is valuable to you, values that match yours? Beyond that does their approach make it easy for you do the next three things…
- Take targeted notes. While you could treat a podcast like a lecture and take plenty of notes, generally I am suggesting against that. Why? Because it may begin to feel like a task or work, rather than a joy. My suggestion is that your notes should be one (or maybe two) thing that you want to apply because you learned from it.
- Think application. If you are taking this kind of notes, you will be listening for application. At the end of my Remarkable Leadership Podcasts conversation, I always close with the question “Now what?”, encouraging people to think back for their application idea. But if you start with that mindset, you will get far more from any show you listen to.
- Try it immediately. Thinking application is great, but until you try it, you haven’t gotten the learning yet. Apply what you learned at your first opportunity if you want to get maximum benefit.
The Organizational View
Organizations aren’t thinking enough about how podcasts can play a role supporting organizational learning. Why this is true is less important than figuring out how to leverage this popular medium for organizational success. Here are five things you can do to leverage them effectively in your organization.
- Talk about them. Make podcasts top of mind in organizational conversation. Talk about those you listen to and what you are learning. The more people are doing this, the more you change the perspective and mindset about this media for workplace use. Talk about – and teach – the strategies I shared above.
- Curate them. Because there are so many, one of the best things organizations can be is a resource for selecting and a platform for sharing the best shows and episodes to meet your organizational needs. Giving people choice and guidance (narrowing the choices) can be a valuable service.
- Integrate them. If you want people to consume podcast content, integrate it into workshop, pre or post work, into learning channels and in any other ways you can encourage use of these tools.
- Build Podcast Clubs. More organizations that ever have book clubs. Why not do the same with podcasts? Pick a show with a short series or a curated list of episodes and gather to talk about them like you would when reading a book. This might be especially helpful for folks who read less, or whose jobs might make it harder for them to find time to read.
- Produce your own. Maybe you want to build an internal podcast to help disseminate information, extend learning on a topic, or put things into organization context.
If you want to learn more about how to leverage podcasts in your organization, especially producing them inside your organization, join me May 21st at 3 pm ET for a webinar titled: Building a Podcast to Create Organizational Learning Impact. Register here for free.
Some statistics from this article come from PodcastStatistics.com.
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