This article is adapted from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 with permission from the authors

In recent years news podcasts have steadily transitioned from niche audio diversions into strategically important formats for news organisations looking to build loyalty and frequency of use with more engaged audiences.

While still a minority pursuit — only 9 per cent of people across 20 surveyed countries access news podcasts weekly — their unique ability to deliver depth, intimacy and analysis continues to attract investment from both established newsrooms and new entrants alike.

The latest findings from the Digital News Report 2025, published this week by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, show that national differences in production styles, platform preferences, and audience appetites are shaping podcast landscapes in markedly different ways.

In this year’s report the Reuters Institute, we undertook deep dive qualitative research in some countries to better understand the evolution of news podcasts.

The UK and US markets reveal pictures which exhibit some interesting differences. This is in spite of shared language and culture, meaning that podcasts can travel easily between both countries. (Notably, the BBC was cited by US respondents in this year’s report as one of the top three most cited podcast producers).

In the US, the podcasting ecosystem is arguably the most developed in the world. News podcasts there straddle a spectrum that includes analysis-driven formats from legacy brands — such as The Daily from the New York Times and NPR’s Up First — and a fast-growing cohort of........

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