A new study from Nielsen Analytics says that approximately 9 million Web users, or just over six percent of U.S. adults, have downloaded podcasts over the past thirty days. Over 1,700 people were surveyed on the podcast usage. Roughly six percent considered themselves regular listeners to podcasts. Most notably, approximately 38 percent of podcast listeners said they are now listening to radio less often.

"The incredible popularity of podcasting is the latest demonstration of consumers' willingness to take control of their media experiences," said Larry Gerbrandt, GM/SVP of Nielsen Analytics. "While essentially still in nascent form, podcasts offer free audio and video content that is inexpensive to create, easy to access and on a portable platform that has already reached mass distribution. This exciting new medium has only just begun to stretch its legs."

Other data gathered from the Nielsen study found that the most popular podcasts are being downloaded up to two million times a month. While podcasting has yet to becoming a truly profitable enterprise, it may take even longer, as 60 percent of respondents said they "always" fast-forward through any commercials in podcasts, with 67 percent of women saying they skip past ads. However, advertisers are finding less intrusive ways to fit their products into podcasts to combat this.

Additionally, Nielsen found that the average podcast is 44 minutes long. Also, 72 percent of those surveyed said they average between one and three podcasts a week, with ten percent saying they download eight or more podcasts per week.

Nielsen is currently developing a new initiative, as part of its Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement (A2M2) project, to better measure podcast usage.