The week of April 20-26 was positive for both download growth (+4%) and audience growth (+2%) compared to the previous week. This is the first week both measures were positive since the week of March 2-8.
Weekly downloads since the first week of January are up 25% and weekly audience is up 6% through the week ending April 26, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Podtrac measures thousands of podcast publishers and podcasts, including those listed on our monthly rankings, and over a billion downloads and streams a month. Each week during the coronavirus shutdown we’re keeping everyone up to date with weekly summaries of download and audience data across all the shows we measure This is our sixth consecutive weekly update.
Visit Podtrac.com for even more podcast data including:Top 30 Podcasts by Category, Top 20 Podcasts and Top 20 Publishers.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download and Audience Growth
Download growth since the first week of January is up 25% and audience growth is up 6% through the week ending April 26, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download and Audience Growth
U.S. weekly podcast download growth was: +4% the week April 20-26, -1% the week of April 13-19, -3% the week of April 6-12, -1% the week of March 30 - April 5, -4% the week of March 23-29, -2% the week of March 16-22, -1% the week of March 9-15, and +2% the week of March 2-8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
U.S. weekly podcast audience growth was: +2% the week of April 20-26, 0% (unchanged) the week of April 13-19, -4% the week of April 6-12, +1% the week of March 30 - April 5, -5% the week of March 23-29, -8% the week of March 16-22, -2% the week of March 9-15, and +4% the week of March 2-8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Monthly Podcast Download Growth - Top 10 Publishers
On a monthly basis, U.S. downloads for 16 of the Top 20 Publishers listed on the Podtrac’s March Publisher Rankings were flat or higher for the month of March vs. February, even with the weekly downward trend which began the week of March 9-15.
Among the top 5 publishers, average U.S. monthly downloads per publisher were 110.6 million for March which was up 18% from February.
Among the top 10 publishers, average U.S. monthly downloads per publisher were 71.4 million for March which was up 12% from February.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download Growth for Top Categories
For Podtrac measured shows, download growth year-to-date for top podcast categories is: +69% for News, +27% Comedy, +18% for Sports, +15% for Business, and -7% Society & Culture through the week ending April 26.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for Top Categories
For Podtrac measured shows downloads week-over-week for the week April 20-26 compared to the week April 13-19 for top podcast categories are: +8% for News, +6% Comedy, +10% for Sports, -5% for Business, and -12% Society & Culture.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download Growth for All Categories
For Podtrac measured shows, download growth year-to-date by category through the week April 20-26 is: +69% for News, +43% for History, +39% for Government, +27% for Comedy, +20% for Kids & Family, +18% for Sports, +18% for TV & Film, +16% for Technology, +15% for Business, +8% for Religion & Spirituality, +8% for Science, +6% for Health & Fitness, +4% for True Crime, +3% for Arts, +1% for Fiction, -1% for Leisure, -7% for Society & Culture, -12% for Education, -24% for Music.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for All Categories
For Podtrac measured shows, category downloads week-over-week for the week April 20-26 compared to the week April 13-19 are:
+8% for News, +28% for History, +4% for Government, +6% for Comedy, -2% for Kids & Family, +10% for Sports, +4% for TV & Film, +9% for Technology, -5% for Business, +5% for Religion & Spirituality, -1% for Science, -1% for Health & Fitness, +40% for True Crime, -2% for Arts, +5% for Fiction, -1% for Leisure, -12% for Society & Culture, -1% for Education, -8% for Music.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Audience Growth for Top Categories
Weekly category audience year-to-date for top podcast categories for the week April 20-26 is: +25% for News, +9% Comedy, -3% for Sports, +4% for Business, and -8% Society & Culture.
Week-by-Week: U.S. Hourly Distribution - Weekday Commute & Weekends
Podcast streams and downloads during peak weekday morning commute times were down an average of 23% for the week of April 20-26 compared to the week of March 2-8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts. On Saturday April 25 the peak hour was up 16%, and for Sunday April 26 the peak hour was up 22%.