Clubhouse vs. Podcasts: Which Should Marketers Use? [Data + Expert Tips]

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Ah, Clubhouse versus podcasts — an age-old debate.

Just kidding. But, while both of these audio tools are relatively new to the business world (in fact, Clubhouse is less than two years old), they’ve both attracted large, engaged audiences.

And, even though each audio tool is vastly different, they serve similar purposes.

Hear me out: Podcasts, at their core, are meant to inspire and provoke interesting conversations around a variety of topics, including crime shows, celebrity interviews, health and fitness, or business and entrepreneurship (to name a few).

Clubhouse operates on a similar principle: to encourage lively conversations and debates around a variety of niche topics. As Clubhouse Founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth have said, “The thing we love most is how voice can bring people together.”

That message — of the importance of voice to bring people together — is just as true for podcasts as it is for Clubhouse.

Which leaves many marketers wondering: Which one is more worth my time?

Here, we’ll explore the pros and cons of investing your time and resources into podcasts vs. audio chat rooms like Clubhouse, and which is ultimately a better long-term decision for your brand.

Since I’m no podcast or Clubhouse expert, I’ve collected the wisdom of various experts on both sides to paint the full picture.

Let’s dive in.

Clubhouse vs. Podcasts: Which Should Marketers Use?

To start, let’s explore a recent survey I conducted on which audio activities people prefer — listening to podcasts, listening and participating in conversations on Clubhouse, or neither:

Data Source

As you can see, the majority of those polled — 75% — prefer listening to podcasts, or doing neither. That leaves Clubhouse as a preference for only one quarter of respondents.

To be fair, podcasts have been around longer than Clubhouse. In fact, the first podcast was created back in 2004, and as of April 2021, there are now over two million podcasts available.

Additionally, one of the major benefits to listening to a podcast is that the content is available on-demand, meaning I can choose when to download and listen — it isn’t live, like Clubhouse. This enables listeners to have complete control over what topics they consume, and when.

A listener might pick-and-choose one pre-recorded crime show episode on her drive to work, for instance, and another episode about parenting on her drive home.

There are a few major benefits to using podcast as a brand awareness or lead generation strategy. Let’s dive into a few of those, now: