WebProNews

Reminiscent of the early Web, the earliest adopters of podcasts are male. But the new medium is gaining steam among women too, a new survey shows.

The survey of 1,000 adult US Internet users, conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) for Podtrac, showed that while 78% of those who've ever listened to a podcast are male, the women that made up the remaining 12% were more likely to have listened to a podcast in the previous week (51% of women vs. 39% of men).

In all, one in three (32%) are familiar with the term "podcasting;" the same percentage have ever listened to a podcast; and 41% had listened to a podcast within the past week.

Podcasting has become one of the latest web phenomena over the past year and says, Podtrac CEO Mark McCrery, the maleness of that audience is comparable with gender usage trends of the early Web. The first Worldwide Web user survey conducted by Georgia Institute of Technology in January of 1994 showed that 95% of Internet users were male. Today that number is 48%, according to TNS.

"The fact that so many women who have listened to podcasts have done so recently signals the beginning of a trend toward a more balanced gender composition of the podcast audience. It's also reflective of the ever-increasing variety of podcast content with broadening appeal," said McCrery.

McCrery believes that as the audience becomes more balanced and widespread, podcasting will become more attractive to advertisers.