Podcasting is $25 billion Industryand mainstream podcasts have a lot in common—from length to number of episodes to cover the arts.

Now a new study from software company Podcastle points to these similarities to help new and experienced podcasters have a better shot at producing a successful show.

Focused on the US STUDY used Apple Podcasts charts to find the top podcasts, then studied a week's worth of data, starting on April 15. Podcastle also surveyed 1,000 podcast listeners to add to the findings.

The study found that “profit” is the top reason Americans want to start a podcast this year — and it could be a lucrative side hustle.

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Jannese Torres, founder of the Personal Finance Podcast, i want moneydivided by CNBC earlier this month it brings in an average of $37,394 in monthly revenue, partly through podcast ads. June 2022 Bloomberg the report found that some podcasters were making $18,000 a month with white noise.

Here's what else the study showed about the best podcasts and the listeners who tune in.

What do the top podcasts have in common?

The study found that the average length of a top 250 podcast was 65 minutes. Of these, 68% used the most popular format, an interview, while 20% used the second most popular format, an in-depth explanation of the topic.

The top 10 genres, in order, are society and culture, comedy and humor, true crime, news, education, business, health and wellness, improvement, personal development and documentary.

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The top 50 most successful podcasts had hosts who spoke an average of 174 words per minute, with an average of 58 filler words like “um” and “like” per episode.

The podcast introductions for these top performers ranged from 30 to 59 seconds, with half of them adding an intro ad.

Most of the top 50 podcasts (60%) had more than one host. Nearly three out of four of the top 50 podcasts had at least one guest on the show.

For cover art, the top 50 had more black and blue on their cover than any other color, and 52% of the covers did not have a photo of the host.

Although each podcast cover used a unique font, only 38% used a bold font.

Most people who want to start a podcast are motivated by the potential profits (34%) or the way it gives them to express their creativity (26%).

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Who listens to podcasts?

Podcast listenership has grown by nearly 70% since 2019, and there are more than three million active podcasts globally, according to Podcastle.

Most podcast listeners (64%) usually tune in to Spotify, with 34% choosing Apple Podcasts. A smaller percentage (6%) uses YouTube Music.

Most indicated that they returned to a show because the hosts or guests were entertaining (69%) and offered new information or perspectives (70%). A host's expertise on a particular topic led to 36% of listeners returning.

Most podcast listeners are doing something else while tuning in. Over one in four listeners (28%) were cooking or doing work and more than one in five (22%) were commuting to work or school.

Listeners indicated that the biggest things podcast hosts should avoid are including too many ads or poor audio quality. Too much advertising turns off listeners across generations, with 70% of Americans citing it as their number one turn off of podcasts overall.

Nearly half of all listeners surveyed said poor sound quality caused them to stop listening.

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