Weekly podcast downloads and audiences have trended down since March 9th. Last week’s data indicates this may be leveling off.
Overall growth in downloads and audiences is still positive year-to-date.
Hourly data shows reduced downloads during commute hours and an increase on the weekend.
Lots of people have questions about what’s happening in podcasting as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds. Podtrac measures thousands of podcast publishers and podcasts, including those listed on our monthly rankings, and over a billion downloads and streams a month, so each week we’ll keep everyone up to date with weekly summaries of download and audience data across all the shows we measure.
Last week we added charts for 19 podcast categories based on questions we received the previous week. This week we add an hourly distribution chart that shows behavioral impacts during commute times and the weekend.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download and Audience Growth
Download growth since the first week of January is up 24% and audience growth is up 9% through the week ending April 5, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download and Audience Growth
U.S. weekly podcast downloads decreased 1% the week of March 30- April 5, 4% the week of March 23-29, 2% the week of March 16-22, and 1% during the week of March 9 -15, across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
U.S. weekly podcast audiences increased 1% the week of March 30- April 5, and decreased 5% the week of March 23-29, 8% the week of March 16-22, and 2% the week of March 9-15, across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
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: +66% for News, +30% for Comedy, +19% for Business, +9% for Society & Culture, and +7% for Sports through the week ending April 5.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for Top Categories
For Podtrac measured shows downloads week-over-week for the week of March 30- April 5 compared to the week of March 23-29 for top podcast categories are: -1% for News, +1% for Comedy, -14% for Business, +3% for Society & Culture, and -1% for Sports.
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 of March 30- April 5 is: +66% for News, +30% for Comedy, +25% for Government, +22% for TV & Film, +19% for Business, +18% for Kids & Family, +17% for History, +17% for Science, +9% for Society & Culture, +9% for Leisure, +7% for Religion & Spirituality, +7% for Sports, +6% for Health & Fitness, +5% for Arts, +2% for Technology, +6% for Health & Fitness, +5% for Arts, +2% for Technology, -7% for Music, -12% for Education, -12% for True Crime, -20% for Fiction.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for All Categories
For Podtrac measured shows, category downloads week-over-week for the week of March 30- April 5 compared to the week of March 23-29 are: -1% for News, +1% for Comedy, -4% for Government, +20% for TV & Film, -14% for Business, -5% for Kids & Family, +9% for History, -8% for Science, +3% for Society & Culture, +2% for Leisure, +2% for Religion & Spirituality, -1% for Sports, 0% for Health & Fitness, -1% for Arts, 0% for Technology, -5% for Music, 0% for Education, -4% for True Crime, +18% for Fiction.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Audience Growth for Top Categories
Weekly category audience year-to-date for top podcast categories through the week of March 30- April 5 is: +26% for News, +18% Comedy, +4% for Business, +6% for Society & Culture, -7% for Sports.
Week-by-Week: U.S. Hourly Distribution - Weekday Commute & Weekends
Podcast streams and downloads during peak weekday morning commute times are down an average of 23% for the week of March 30- April 5, 2020 compared to the week of March 2 -8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts. On weekends, the peak for Saturday is up 12% and the peak for Sunday is up 20%.