A audiência ouve o podcast.

Because audiência is a collective noun. It refers to a group of people, but grammatically it is singular.

So Portuguese uses:

• a audiência ouve = singular subject + singular verb

This is similar to English the audience listens.

In this sentence, audiência means the audience: the group of people who listen to, watch, or follow something.

In Brazilian Portuguese, audiência can also mean:

• viewership / ratings / reach
• an audience with someone
• a hearing, especially in legal or formal contexts

So context matters. Here, because of podcast, it clearly means the audience/listeners.

A is the definite article meaning the.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does. So where English might sometimes say just audience, Portuguese often says a audiência.

Here, a audiência can mean:

• the audience in a specific context, or
• a general audience, depending on context

Ouve is the 3rd person singular form of ouvir (to hear / to listen to) in the present tense.

Mini-conjugation:

• eu ouço
• você/ele/ela ouve
• nós ouvimos
• vocês/eles/elas ouvem

Since a audiência is singular, the sentence uses ouve.

Because ouvir takes a direct object in Portuguese.

So you say:

• ouvir o podcast
• not ouvir ao podcast

This is different from English, where you usually say listen to the podcast.

A useful thing to remember:

• ouvir algo = to hear/listen to something

Both can often mean to listen to in Brazilian Portuguese.

Very roughly:

• ouvir is the more common and broader verb
• escutar can sound a little more like listen attentively, though in real use they often overlap

So these are both possible:

• A audiência ouve o podcast.
• A audiência escuta o podcast.

The first one sounds very natural.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

In Portuguese, the simple present often covers both:

• A audiência ouve o podcast. = The audience listens to the podcast / The audience is listening to the podcast

If you want to make the ongoing action more explicit, Brazilian Portuguese often uses:

• A audiência está ouvindo o podcast.

Podcast is a borrowed word, and in Brazilian Portuguese it is normally treated as masculine:

• o podcast
• um podcast

Loanwords in Portuguese often get a grammatical gender, and podcast is usually masculine by convention.

In a normal sentence like this, yes, it is the natural choice.

• A audiência ouve o podcast. = The audience listens to the podcast

If you remove the article, it can sound unnatural in standard everyday Portuguese, or it may sound more like a headline or a very generic statement.

So for learners, use the article here.

A helpful approximation is:

ow-jee-EN-see-a

Important points:

• the stress falls on ÊN
• the di in Brazilian Portuguese often sounds like jee
• the ên part is nasal

The accent mark in audiência helps show the stressed syllable.

No. This is the normal Portuguese pattern:

• Subject: A audiência
• Verb: ouve
• Object: o podcast

So it follows standard subject + verb + object order, just like a basic English sentence such as The audience listens to the podcast.