News has consistently been the second most-consumed category of podcasts since 2021, the first year of the survey of 12,000 adult podcast consumers that Signal Hill Insights conducts annually in the U.S. in support of Triton Digital’s Podcast Metrics Demos+. In the second quarter of this year the News genre hit a new high, with 27.3% of monthly podcast consumers saying they listened to or watched a news podcast in the past month.

Put in context, that’s two full points higher than the 25.3% average from Q2 2024 through Q1 2025. When you factor in continued growth of the total monthly podcast audience, podcast news consumers grew three points, from 11.6% of all Americans aged 18+ in Q2 2024 to 14.6% in Q2 2025. This development prompts a deeper dive into this segment, including some striking new findings about its composition.

News Podcast Consumers: Even More Affluent, Educated and Powerful

The News audience has some notable differences compared to the general podcast audience, especially for advertisers. At a high level, News podcast consumers are more affluent, more educated and, professionally, are more likely to be a senior decision maker. 

First, looking at household income, a News podcast consumer is 36% more likely to bring in more than $150,000 a year than the average podcast consumer. That difference is also evident in their retail investable assets.  They’re 40% more likely to have invested a half-million dollars or more, and 52% more likely to have a million dollars invested. This makes News shows an attractive target for financial and investment services, as well as higher-end consumer products. 

Income, education and professional achievement tend to be correlated, and we see that here, too. While news consumers are only a little bit more likely (11%) to have a bachelor’s degree, they’re quite a bit more likely – 42% – to have a post-graduate degree. This audience is 24% more likely to be a senior decision maker at work, versus the podcast audience as a whole. B2B advertisers should take note, as should brands selling information and education products.

That’s because News podcast consumers are seeking knowledge, and fresh, deep perspectives from their podcasts. Compared to average, they say are more likely to say they turn to podcasts to “become more knowledgeable” (+28%), “get a point of view I wouldn’t hear on other media” (+41%), and “get a deeper perspective on news and current events” (+52%). 

News Podcast Consumers Remember Podcast Ads

Demos+ survey results also indicate that News podcast consumers are more tuned in to podcast ads. We asked respondents questions about 10 top podcast advertisers, including verticals like retail, telecom, financial services, automotive, B2B and electronics. The News consumer was 22% more likely to say they remember hearing a podcast ad for any of these brands. 

In the top half of the list, they were most likely to recall a home improvement brand (+25%) automotive brand (+28%), a B2B brand (+29%), and an insurance brand (29%). At number one is a retail department store brand (+31%). 

A Political Shift

Audience profile and growth are not the only stories. In the last year we’ve observed a fascinating shift in the composition of the News podcast audience.  Comparing this year’s second quarter results with the same quarter last year, we see a distinct change in political affiliation.

In Q2 of 2024 the largest proportion of news consumers considered themselves Democrats (41%), while 30% selected Republican – a trend that is consistent back to when we first asked the question in 2021. 

Jumping forward to Q2 of 2025 we observe a virtual flip-flop. 39% of the news podcast audience now identify as Republican, while 32% say they are Democrat. Even in the first quarter of this year we see a similar proportion of Republicans (40%), though more who said they were Democrats (35%). Picking up some of the slack, the share of news podcast consumers considering themselves Independent was up from 11% in Q1 of this year to 13% in Q2.

While we’ve also seen an increase of Republicans in the overall podcast audience, the shift has been less pronounced. In 2024’s second quarter the average podcast consumer was a little less likely than the news consumer to say they’re either a Democrat (37%) or a Republican (28%), and more likely to identify as Independent (17%). In 2025, among all podcast consumers, Democrats and Republicans are nearly tied, at 34% and 32% respectively, with Independents barely changed (16%).