Who listens to science podcasts?

No current public primary study reviewed here publishes a complete Science-only demographic profile. Sounds Profitable reported Science use among 14% of US past-month podcast consumers in June 2025, but the category table did not publish the numeric unweighted base or Science-specific demographics.

What do the 14% and 16% Science figures mean?

They are displayed results for 2025 and 2024 from a question asking past-month podcast consumers which genres they had consumed in the prior 30 days. They are not shares of all US adults, and the tables do not publish the numeric category-question base.

What should a science podcast listener survey ask?

Ask which scientific fields and episode formats people choose, their reason for listening, how they assess sources, and where they discovered the show. Report results among respondents with the field dates, recruitment channels, response count, geography, and wording.

Science podcast audience: what current data supports

The best current public evidence for the science podcast audience is a category-reach result, not a demographic profile. In June 2025, 14% of US past-month podcast consumers selected Science among genres consumed in the previous 30 days. The table does not publish its numeric unweighted base. It also gives no account of the category's age, gender, education, income, or listening behavior.

Science podcast audience evidence at a glance

Evidence	What it supports	Required limit
Sounds Profitable, 2025 table	14% selected Science under the past-30-day genre question	Numeric question base and Science subgroup size were not published
Sounds Profitable, 2024 table	16% selected Science under the same displayed question and conceptual base	No Science demographics or numeric category-question base
Apple Podcasts Connect	Apple listening and consumption, plus followers and geography	No documented age or gender, education, or scientific background
Spotify for Creators	Spotify audience and discovery, plus engagement and demographics	Age and gender describe Spotify only
Voluntary show survey	Declared interests, needs, discovery, and optional background	Respondents are not the complete audience

The category figures appear on pages 31 and 32 of Sounds Profitable's 2025 report, produced with Signal Hill Insights. Each page asks, "Which of the following podcast genres have you consumed in the last 30 days?" and prints the base as people who have consumed a podcast in the last month. Science appears at 16% in the displayed 2024 table and 14% in the displayed 2025 table.

The report's current-year methodology covers an online survey of 5,034 US adults age 18 and older, fielded in June 2025 and weighted to recent US Census data. Do not derive a Science respondent count by multiplying the total sample by a rounded percentage.

These results measure selection of a broad genre label under one survey question. They are not 14% or 16% of all US adults. They also do not establish the audience profile of scientists, students, science-news readers, or listeners to one podcast.

Define the science beat before profiling listeners

Apple's category taxonomy gives Science its own category. Its subcategories include Astronomy, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Nature, Physics, and Social Sciences. That directory structure helps define inventory. It does not provide audience research.

Write a one-sentence coverage rule for the feed. Name the fields and questions it owns, along with any topics it leaves to another show. A research-news podcast, a natural-history narrative, and a practical astronomy show can all sit under Science while serving different listener needs.

Tag a representative run of episodes by scientific field and format. Add the evidence type, intended knowledge level, and question answered. Keep the tag set small enough that each group contains several releases. The audience personas guide can help turn repeated needs into working groups without supplying invented ages, jobs, or degrees.

Keep category context and show evidence separate

Use three visible evidence layers. National research provides dated category context. Platform dashboards record actions inside their systems. A voluntary survey records what respondents chose to declare.

The 2025 category result belongs in the first layer with its question and base. Keep the field date and geography beside the method and missing numeric base. Apple and Spotify results belong in separate platform rows. Survey answers need their response count and recruitment method. Combining the layers into one audience total would hide overlap and incompatible units.

Start your worksheet with the source and metric definition. Add the date window, filters, and export date. The podcast analytics guide explains how to keep delivery and audience measures distinct from engagement and response.

Compare science episodes at equal ages

Choose a period with ordinary releases and compare episodes after the same amount of time. An archive explainer has had more opportunity to collect search and recommendation traffic than a recent research update.

Mark conditions that can distort a comparison. A major discovery, public-health event, space mission, prominent guest, classroom adoption, or paid campaign can create temporary attention. Keep the release in the analysis, then label the condition instead of treating it as the standing baseline.

Compare tags that answer an editorial question. You might test reported research news against evergreen explanation, interviews against scripted narratives, or introductory episodes against specialist discussions. A repeated pattern across several releases can justify a production test. One spike cannot define the audience.

The guide to how to track podcast analytics provides a repeatable structure for equal-age comparisons and release notes. Preserve your tag definitions when you update the report so a label does not change halfway through a trend.

Read Apple and Spotify on their own terms

Apple Podcasts Connect reports aggregated activity inside Apple Podcasts. Listeners played or watched more than zero seconds. Engaged Listeners consumed at least 20 minutes or 40% of an episode. Apple also reports plays, followers, time listened, average consumption, geography, and fixed-window episode comparisons.

At least five unique listeners must play the show in the selected period before the relevant analytics appear. Apple's public documentation does not list age, gender, education, profession, or scientific expertise. Average Consumption can exceed 100% after replay, so keep the metric's Apple definition attached.

Spotify for Creators reports distinct people who played the show on Spotify in the selected period. Its audience view separates new people from those who played during the previous year and returned. Spotify's age and gender fields apply to Spotify listeners.

Spotify discovery data covers impressions and conversion to plays on Spotify surfaces. Its analytics glossary defines a play as at least 30 seconds and completion as reaching at least 95% during the first seven days after publication. Keep Spotify impressions, plays, and completion separate from Apple measures and host delivery.

Survey purpose, knowledge, and trust directly

Dashboards cannot tell you whether somebody listens for formal study, professional awareness, practical curiosity, family learning, or entertainment. Ask the reason directly. Also ask which fields and recurring formats bring respondents back, how they found the feed, and which source notes help them assess an episode.

If background affects a real editorial decision, use broad optional questions about familiarity with the topic. Do not infer scientific training from completion, vocabulary, or category membership. A listener can finish an advanced episode without holding a related degree, and a professional can choose introductory coverage outside their specialty.

Report findings as "among N respondents." Publish field dates, recruitment channels, response count, completion count, geography, and exact wording. A survey promoted after a technical episode may overrepresent its audience. A newsletter link samples people reachable by email. State those limits beside the findings.

The listener demographics guide explains how to label platform and survey evidence. Collect only fields that change programming, distribution, community work, or sponsor screening.

Turn findings into auditable segments

A curiosity-led segment may favor clear explanatory narratives and source lists. Field-adjacent professionals may want methods, uncertainty, and links to original work. A classroom-use segment needs direct survey or feedback evidence before you use that label.

Give every segment an observed pattern, source, decision, and review date. In a sponsor deck, place the 14% category figure in a context box with the June 2025 method and missing-base caveat. Give your own measured show evidence more space, and label every platform and respondent group.

Start with Podder Analytics to compare science episodes under a consistent delivery view, then add platform exports and a documented listener survey.