Podcasts are gaining in popularity, one research firm finds, with more Internet users downloading podcasts as the number of podcast creators grows.

As of late November, a survey found that 12 percent of all U.S. Internet users have downloaded the digital audio recordings, increasing 5 percent from its February-April survey, the non-profit Pew Internet & American Life project said.

Few internet users are downloading podcasts with great frequency however. In both surveys, just 1 percent report downloading a podcast a day. Still, the number of individuals and larger media groups that now provide podcasts has increased.

The research shows that as of November 20, Podcast Alley, a podcast directory website, grew from 1,000 podcasts for download to more than 26,000 today, totaling more than 1 million episodes.

Outlets such as NPR, the BBC and Comedy Central now regularly provide podcasted material as an alternative way to distribute their content.

The Pew project states that the results come from a nationally-representative telephone survey of 2,928 adults which took place throughout August.