Many top-rated podcasts are geared toward business and educational topics. Perhaps as a result, the demographics for podcast listeners skew older than expected, according to a new comScore study in this MediaPost report.

comScore found that 35- to-54-year-olds represent half of the downloaders. That doesn't jive with the usual expectation that iPod listeners are young, active, full of vibrancy, able to leap tall buildings after a single cup of coffee, and so on.

"Because these core audiences represent highly desirable consumer segments, it's probably just a matter of time before significant advertising dollars begin to flow toward this medium," said Nick Tabbal, comScore's senior vice president of media and entertainment solutions.

comScore Finds An Older Podcast Audience [MediaPost]