84% of U.S. Population Consumes Any True Crime Media

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, September 12, 2024 | 3:47pm CT

Edison Research

Edison Research, with support from audiochuck media company, delved deeper into the True Crime genre with the release of the True Crime Consumer Report. This report provides insights and analysis on the current trends and future outlook of True Crime podcasts. Findings were unveiled in a webinar hosted by Edison Research Senior Director of Research Gabriel Soto and audiochuck Chief Operating Officer Bob Baird.

Together, they highlighted the dynamic relationship between True Crime and the podcasting industry. The study finds that 84% of the U.S. population age 13 and over are True Crime consumers, meaning they watch or listen to True Crime through any medium. Forty-two percent of the U.S. population age 13 and over have ever listened to a True Crime podcast. Seventeen percent of the U.S. population age 13 and over are True Crime Consumers who listen to podcasts, but not True Crime podcasts.

Compared to True Crime Consumers who do not listen to podcasts, True Crime podcast listeners are 4.4 times more likely to provide a tip or other information to help solve a case, 3.3 times more likely to sign a petition related to a cause from a case, and 1.8 times more likely to promote awareness of case with others.

Compared to True Crime consumers who have never listened to a podcast, True Crime podcast listeners are 3.6 times more likely to donate money directly to a specific cause or organization and 3.3 times more likely to donate money directly to victims and their loved ones.

The top reasons True Crime podcast listeners say they are interested in True Crime is because they like the psychology behind criminal events (49%), the forensic science behind criminal events (48%), the suspense and thrill (50%), and they like solving mysteries (50%).

Key findings include:

• 89% of U.S. Weekly Podcast Listeners age 13 and over have ever binged True Crime podcasts.

• 65% of True Crime Consumers overall are interested in content about murder; 60% are interested in content involving serial killers.

• 45% of True Crime Consumers who listen to podcasts, but not True Crime podcasts, would be likely to listen if True Crime podcasts focused on stories from their local region; 43% would be likely if the podcasts focused on high profile cases.

• 77% of True Crime podcast listeners are more interested in consuming True Crime content if it were victim-centered, with 32% saying they are "much more" interested.

Soto said, "Podcasting is transforming True Crime, helping to solve cases and to bring in donations for nonprofits at a higher rate. It's a movement that listeners associate with not just their favorite hosts but advertisers on these shows as well."

"Advocacy is at the forefront of everything we do here at audiochuck and Edison's research taught us so much about how we can expand and foster our incredible audience of action-takers. Having the data about who is out there consuming true crime and what they want is vital to bringing the most value to our listeners and partners," added Baird.