🚀Podtrac Data Reveals Surprising Growth in Podcast Listenership

This is in line with data from Podtrac, which show podcasting does not face the same summertime decline in listenership that some other forms of media face.

Highlights: US downloads were up month-over-month in August for eleven of the top twenty-one publishers; thirteen US ranking participants saw an increase in US Unique Monthly Audience. Eleven publishers had a higher monthly download volume in the US, with seven of the top global networks showing increases in global downloads, views, and downloads.

iHeartMedia still took the top spot for the month of August, with its titles continuing to take the biggest reach in the US, recording 31.2 million listeners and 171 million downloads. Disney placed second biggest publisher, after NPR formerly measured as a publisher, transitioned in Podtrac's network list. It recorded 8.1 million unique listeners and 26.9 million downloads. Among sales networks, iHeart Audience Network led in the U.S. with more than 380 million downloads; Libsyn was in second place with 21.9 million unique listeners. NPR ranked high. So did Wondery and Acast. ESPN and ABC News are behind some of Disney's shows.

Why it matters: The rise of iHeartPodcasts and Disney, for instance, testifies to the boom in this industry and proves the dynamics in podcasting, with how publishers in general are putting up a fight to outcompete the sales networks. The underlying factor in their success pertains to how imperative it has become to create strategic partnerships and quality content in order to reach a mass audience.

Takeaway as a podcast producer: This epitomizes the importance of building strong partnerships and continually producing quality content in a highly competitive environment in podcasting. For us producers, innovation and collaboration are keys toward relevance and growing listenership.

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