🇩🇪Germany is Unlocking Podcasting Data, with Seven.One Audio's Karin Kessler
Eurowaves #16 Interview
Karin Kessler is Vice President Strategy & Content at Seven.One Audio and has been with ProSiebenSat.1 for 16 years. After setting up and managing various digital marketing teams, she was involved in the founding of the podcast unit in 2019 and played a key role in developing the business. Today, she is responsible for strategy, ad tech, marketing and content acquisition.
The “Podcast 2025 Report” by Seven.One Audio offers insights and illustrative graphics on podcast usage behavior, listenership, ongoing market growth and exciting marketing aspects. (as reported by Podnews)
You can connect with Karin on LinkedIn here.
What inspired Seven.One Audio to invest in this podcast report, and what gap in the German or European podcasting landscape were you hoping to address?
Since 2021, Seven.One Audio has been dedicated to conducting comprehensive research on the podcasting landscape in Germany, focusing on audience behavior, target demographics, and comparative media insights. Our investment in this recurring podcast report was driven by a clear vision to further educate the German podcasting ecosystem: we believe in the transformative power of podcasts and want to provide the industry the insights needed to unlock its full potential.
What were some of the most surprising or noteworthy findings from the research?
In 2025, the podcast market is increasingly shaped by a young and female audience. Women under 30 are playing a particularly influential role. Another key finding is the steady market growth: reach, usage, and the variety of available podcasts continue to rise. For the first time, more young people are listening to podcasts than to traditional radio – a significant shift in audio consumption habits. Finally, podcast advertising has also proven to be highly effective: it delivers strong incremental reach, enjoys high acceptance among high-income listeners, and achieves the highest advertising recall among women compared to other media.
How do you see this kind of data influencing the way podcasters, advertisers, or platforms approach podcasting in Germany moving forward?
Advertisers will continue to increase their budgets, because no other medium offers such direct access to an educated, young, and predominantly female audience. Our calculations show that current media spendings should be four times higher to accurately reflect the amount of time audiences are dedicating to podcasts. The ongoing and unique growth of podcasts – currently the only medium experiencing consistent growth – should further motivate advertisers to allocate more of their budgets to this channel.
As advertising investments rise and the audience continues to diversify, more creators, content providers, and journalists will be drawn to this dynamic medium. This will lead to the production of even more compelling content, ensuring that offerings are available for every niche and age group. In summary, these trends will foster a vibrant ecosystem that benefits listeners, creators, and advertisers alike.
How can other European countries follow this example and invest in similar research or reporting on their own podcasting industries?
We benefit greatly from being part of a large media organization that continuously collects and publishes data on German media usage. This structure allows us to gather and analyze podcast data with relative ease. Based on our experience, we would recommend that other countries expand their major media usage studies to include podcast data.
By integrating podcast metrics into existing, comprehensive media research, it becomes possible to systematically track the growth and impact of podcasting across different markets. This approach would not only provide valuable insights for the industry but also support the development of the podcast ecosystem throughout Europe.
From your perspective, what role does data play in shaping a more sustainable and innovative podcasting ecosystem in Europe?
Data plays a crucial role in fostering a more sustainable and innovative podcasting ecosystem in Europe. By providing transparency on audience behaviors, content trends, and advertising effectiveness, data empowers all stakeholders—creators, advertisers, and platforms—to make informed decisions.