THE PR INSIDER BY FARZANA BADUEL
Most mornings, before the inbox floods and before the day’s competing demands announce themselves, I am out walking the dog in west London. I am a working mother, a wife, and the CEO of a global communications consultancy. My phone is in my pocket, not my hand. My eyes are on the pavement and the people passing by. But in my ears, the world is unfolding; global politics, media analysis, leadership thinking, long form conversations that would be impossible to consume if I had to sit still and stare at a screen.
That small, ordinary scene captures something bigger. In a distracted, time poor world, podcasts have quietly become one of the most intimate, flexible and emotionally resonant ways we exchange ideas. Audio fits into the gaps of modern life, allowing us to learn, reflect and connect while walking, commuting, cooking or exercising. Far from being background noise, podcasts have become a central arena for thought leadership and public conversation.
A MEDIUM FINDING ITS AUDIENCE
The numbers tell a striking story. According to Statista, the global podcast audience passed the half billion mark in 2023 and is projected to reach around 650 million listeners by 2027. Industry analyses based on eMarketer data estimate roughly 584 million podcast listeners worldwide in 2025, up from just over 500 million in 2023. That represents 15 per cent growth in two years, across a medium that barely existed two decades ago. North America and Western Europe still lead in penetration, but growth in Latin America and parts of Asia is accelerating rapidly. What began as an RSS driven audio format dominated by Apple Podcasts is now mainstream and platform agnostic. Podcasting has moved well beyond its early, niche audience.
THE PLATFORMING OF INTIMACY
In the early years, Apple Podcasts set the rules of the game. It was where podcasts lived and how they were found. Spotify changed that dynamic by integrating podcasts into a broader audio ecosystem and prioritising recommendation algorithms and exclusives, especially appealing to millennials and Gen Z. Now YouTube has emerged as a podcast power player. Around a third of weekly podcast listeners in the United States name YouTube as their primary platform, ahead of Spotify and Apple. Many people no longer just listen; they “watch” podcasts, even if the visual element is secondary. This shift matters because it lowers barriers to entry. Someone who might never open a podcast app may still encounter a long form conversation through YouTube, widening reach and impact. The top podcast markets globally, measured by monthly listeners, are the United States, China, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. But the fastest growth is happening where mobile penetration is rising and commute times are long: places where audio offers an efficient alternative to reading or watching.
WHY AUDIO WORKS: THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE INTIMACY
There is a deeper reason podcasts resonate so powerfully, and it sits in our brains. Research shows that auditory stimuli are processed faster than visual imagery.
Sound reaches the auditory cortex as a single wave, whereas visual information must be broken down into multiple components before being reconstructed. Our sound memory is also more durable and “recording like” than our visual memory, which is more prone to distortion over time.
Crucially, emotional audio activates the amygdala, strengthening memory formation and recall. Music, tone and voice can trigger autobiographical memories with extraordinary vividness. Anyone who has been transported back to a specific moment in their life by a song understands this instinctively. Podcasts tap into this mechanism. A human voice in your ear, speaking with nuance and emotion, builds connection in a way text or short form video often cannot. This is why podcasts are so effective for recall and persuasion. Ideas are not skimmed; they are absorbed.
WHO LISTENS, AND WHY
Demographically, podcasts skew young but not narrow. Millennials make up the largest share of listeners in the United States, with Gen Z close behind. There is also strong growth among 18- to 24-year-olds and mid-career professionals aged 45 to 54.
Psychographically, podcast listeners share common traits: curiosity, a desire for depth beyond headlines, and an appetite for long form explanation. They are habitual multitaskers, listening while commuting, exercising, doing housework or, like me, walking the dog. Over time, many develop a sense of loyalty and parasocial intimacy with favourite hosts, who feel less like distant broadcasters and more like trusted companions.
MY OWN PODCAST JOURNEY
My experience as a podcast host mirrors the wider evolution of the medium. Almost three years ago, I began hosting a podcast for the Public Relations and Communications Association. It was my first real immersion in audio storytelling, and it taught me how much discipline the medium requires: clarity, pace, and respect for the listener’s time. About a year ago, I moved over and joined Stories and Strategies, an evergreen interview podcast focused on PR and communications, partnering with Canadian podcaster and former journalist Doug Downs. Doug runs a podcast production company, and working with him was an education in craft. One lesson stayed with me: for many listeners, around 20 minutes is an optimal length. Internal analytics and industry trackers consistently show that focused 20-to-30-minute episodes perform strongly in completion and engagement. Stories and Strategies is the number one ranked show in its PR category on platforms and trackers such as Goodpods, demonstrating how niche, expert led audio can build global reach. It drops every Tuesday on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. More recently, we launched a second weekly podcast, Week Unspun, which goes out live on Fridays and is then shared as a podcast. It brings together a transatlantic trio: Doug Downs, the Canadian producer; David Gallagher, an American former journalist and senior PR leader; and me, a British PR. Stories and Strategies offers evergreen expertise; Week Unspun delivers fast moving, news driven analysis with a PR lens. Together, they show how podcasts can balance durable, searchable content with timely commentary.
BEYOND THE 30 SECOND SOUNDBITE
Traditional broadcast news has long been built around the 30 second soundbite: compressed, adversarial and often superficial. Complex issues are reduced to slogans, and guests are rewarded for performance rather than reflection. Long form podcasts offer something different. They allow for nuance, vulnerability and intellectual risk taking. They rehumanise experts, leaders and even politicians by giving them space to think out loud. Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO is a powerful example. Guests are given time to unpack failure, doubt and personal backstory, creating extraordinary audience loyalty. At the other end of the spectrum, Joe Rogan’s interviews demonstrate how long form podcasts have become politically consequential. Whatever one thinks of the host or his guests, episodes such as his conversation with President Trump show that a podcast appearance can shape the news agenda in ways once reserved for prime-time television.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC VALUE
For brands, leaders and communicators, podcasts offer a rare combination of attention and intimacy. Listeners often stay with episodes for tens of minutes, far longer than they spend on a social media post or online article. Host read ads and integrated storytelling benefit from the trust listeners place in familiar voices, improving recall and persuasion.
From a PR perspective, podcasts allow leaders to demonstrate depth rather than simply deliver a “line to take”. For global audiences, they also collapse geography. A listener in Sri Lanka can hear a UK based CEO, a Canadian producer and an American PR veteran analyse the week’s news in real time. Subscribe to Curzon PR YouTube channel to access Stories and Strategies podcast dropped every Tuesday or search for Stories and Strategies on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Tune into Week Unspun every Friday 3:00pm GMT which is 8:30pm Sri Lankan Standard Time on Curzon PR’s YouTube or catch on demand afterwards on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Curzon PR YouTube
https://youtube.com/@curzon_pr?si=AzfFOV0rJet1rdiM
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/1RPQxUUpvP8maOfezGnjVw?si=05qD7NeQQguSeUL-12ayfQ
Apple
SCAN THE QR CODE ABOVE TO LISTEN!
About The Writer
Farzana Baduel, President-elect (2026) of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and CEO and Co-founder of Curzon PR (UK), is a leading specialist in global strategic communications. She advises entrepreneurs at Oxford’s Said Business School, co-founded the Asian Communications Network (UK), and serves on the boards of the Halo Trust, and Soho Theatre. Recognised on the PRWeek Power List and Provoke Media’s Innovator 25, she also co-hosts the podcast, Stories and Strategies. Farzana champions diversity, social mobility, and the power of storytelling to connect worlds.
