According to the latest Nielsen/Netratings study, 6.6 percent of the US adult population, or 9.2 million Web users have recently downloaded an audio podcast; 4 percent, or 5.6 million, have downloaded a video podcast. Jason Lee Miller from Web Pro News offers a portrait of the average podcast listener/viewer:

- Between the ages of 18 and 44 (but mostly 18-34)
- Uses Apple's Safari or Mozilla Firefox to browse
- For audio, visits Macworld, Lycos Wired News, Slashdot, Niketown.com, Apple and iTunes, likely in the 18-24 age group
- For video, visits StarTrek.com, Live365.com, Fark.com, eMusic, and Niketown.com, more likely in the 25-34 age group

What the Nielsen/NetRatings study shows is that podcast listeners are the very lucrative 200+ Billion dollar 18-34 year old market segment. This segment is tech savvy, spend a great deal of time online and often have more $$ to spend.

For businesses or advertisers trying to target this lucrative 18-34 demographic, podcasting has become an important component to the marketing mix. Podcasting adds a voice to your message, boosts your credibility and adds a personal touch to your business. Some key elements of effective podcasts are:

- Provide unique content.
- Try to get people excited by the way you tell things.
- Talk about things that matter.

Probably the biggest reason for the growing popularity of podcasting is that it offers On Demand Listening. Podcasting allows listeners to time-shift and place-shift media consumption to listen at the most convenient time (using itunes to automatically receive updates, for example).

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