From Nielson Net ratings. July 12, 2006

Podcasting gains an important foothold among U.S adult online population.

Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research,
announced today that 6.6 percent of the U.S. adult online population, or 9.2 million Web users, have
recently downloaded an audio podcast; 4.0 percent, or 5.6 million Web users, have recently downloaded a video podcast.

These figures put the podcasting population on a par with those who publish blogs, 4.8 percent, and online daters, 3.9 percent. However, podcasting is not yet nearly as popular as viewing and paying bills online, 51.6 percent, or online job hunting, 24.6 percent.

Podcasting is a relatively new technology that enables users to quickly and easily download multimedia files, including audio and video, for playback on mobile devices including iPods and other MP3 players as well as cell phones.

“The portability of podcasts makes them especially appealing to young, on-the-go audiences,” said Michael Lanz, analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. “We can expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate”.