Sounds Profitable has released The Creators 2025, its latest report examining how podcast creators across the United States make content, choose formats, and sustain their work.
The findings point to a rapidly diversifying creator landscape but also a growing retention problem that could shape the future of the industry.
The study, based on 5,035 US adults aged 18 and over, is Sounds Profitable’s second deep dive into the creator universe following its 2022 report.
It shows that podcast production is now firmly multi-format, with seventy-one per cent of active creators producing video in some form.
Thirty-five per cent create video-only shows, thirty-six per cent work across both video and audio, and twenty-nine per cent remain focused on audio-only.
Sounds Profitable says this reflects the wider shift in audience behaviour across YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and social media platforms.
“The data shows creators are choosing different paths: some video, some audio, many doing both,” said Tom Webster, Partner at Sounds Profitable. “What matters most isn’t which format they choose, but whether they’re creating in formats they actually consume themselves. That alignment is what separates creators who stick with it from those who burn out.”
The report highlights a significant rise in creator participation among multicultural communities. Among all podcast consumers, Hispanic creators account for eighteen per cent, black creators sixteen per cent and Asian creators twelve per cent, each outpacing white creators at nine per cent.
These groups are also more likely to adopt multi-format strategies, maintaining both video and audio versions of their work to meet diverse audience expectations.
However, the study also identifies a major sustainability challenge. Sounds Profitable found that for every three people who start a podcast, one stops.
While seventeen per cent of the population has tried podcast creation, only twelve per cent remain active, leaving six per cent as lapsed creators.
Churn rates reach forty per cent among LGBT+ creators and those aged over fifty-five. “We celebrate new creators every year but rarely stop to question why so many stop. Now we know that six per cent of the podcast universe knows how to create podcasts but have stopped, which is a retention issue to address,” Webster said.
A gender divide also continues to shape the creator landscape. Men currently show a fifteen per cent creator engagement rate compared with eight per cent for women, yet women who do start podcasting are more likely to continue, with a sixty-nine per cent retention rate compared with sixty-seven per cent for men.
“Women aren’t quitting podcasting more than men – they’re just not starting. That’s an entry problem, not a commitment problem,” Webster added. “When one group creates at half the rate but retains at higher rates, that suggests structural barriers to entry. Understanding and addressing those barriers represents a significant growth opportunity for the industry.”
The research also uncovers a disconnect between consumption habits and creative output, particularly among creators who stop.
Active video creators show the strongest alignment, with forty-three per cent using YouTube as their primary podcast platform. Audio creators, by contrast, tend to use YouTube mainly for background listening, even though they still watch video sixty-nine per cent of the time when on the platform.
Lapsed creators, those who have stopped making podcasts, watch just forty-nine per cent video content on YouTube and use the platform as an audio service fifty-three per cent of the time.
Sounds Profitable says this mismatch between what creators prefer to consume and what they attempt to make may contribute to burnout and attrition.
“For creators struggling to stick with their content creation, the solution could be quite simple: if you mainly listen to podcasts as audio-only but try to create video content, you’re setting yourself up to quit. The most sustainable creators make content in the format they love to consume,” Webster said.
The report and all of its findings can be downloaded from the Sounds Profitable website (name, company and email required).
