世論 What Japan Thinks

japan.internet.com recently published the results of a survey by goo Research into podcasting. Over three days at the end of July they interviewed 1,046 members of their internet monitor group. 55.2% of the respondents were female, 23.3% were in their twenties, 39.0% in their thirties, 26.0% in their forties, and 11.7% in their fifties.

It seems to me that podcasting has been replaced by YouTube as the in-vogue buzzword. The last podcast I downloaded (no link as I wouldn’t want to subject you to it too) was a personal “audio postcard from Japan”-kind of recording, but oh dear! Never again will I go near that style of podcast – the lack of a usable fast-forward that duplicates aurally the visual scanning of headlines sapped up all my enthusiasm for the medium and the whiny gaijin content turned me right off the person.

Q1: Do you know the word “podcast”? (Sample size=1,046)

I’ve used podcasts (to SQ)	9.8%
I know what it is, but not used it	16.9%
I’ve just heard the term	20.3%
Don’t know what it means	53.0%

The number of people unaware of podcasting has decreased since the same question was asked last year, but by how much is not noted.

Q1SQ: How have you used podcasts? (Sample size=103, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Listened to other people’s podcasts	97	94.2%
Made my own podcast	8	7.8%

That means that three-quarters of the people who have recorded podcasts would appear to have never listened to anyone else’s!

When asked what sort of podcasts people listened to, the most popular type, listened to by 70 people, was existing radio stations who had released programs in downloadable formats, next was 39 people who listened to programs recorded by individuals, then 33 people who chose non-media companies’ material.

Curiously enough, when asked where they listen to the casts, 72 people said at home, almost double the number who listen to them whilst commuting, or 37 people. Next, 10 people listened at work.

Q2: Do you have the impression that recently podcasts are in vogue? (Sample size=1,046)

Yes	29.3%
No	28.9%
Don’t know	41.9%