The week of April 13-19 was flat for download and audience growth compared to the previous week. The week of March 2-8 continues to be the peak week for downloads and audience for 2020 for Podtrac measured shows.
Weekly downloads since the first week of January (year-to-date) are up 20% and weekly audience is up 4% through the week ending April 19, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Weekday commute times are down, while the peak podcast download hour for Saturday April 18 was up 9%, and the peak hour for Sunday April 19 was up 20%.
On a monthly basis, total 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.
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.
Visit Podtrac.com for even more podcast data including: Top Podcasts by Category, Top Podcasts and Top Publisher rankings.
Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download and Audience Growth
Download growth since the first week of January is up 20% and audience growth is up 4% through the week ending April 19, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download and Audience Growth
U.S. weekly podcast download growth was: -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, and -1% during the week of March 9-15, across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
U.S. weekly podcast audience growth was: 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, and -2% the week of March 9-15, 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: +57% for News, +20% for Business, +20% Comedy, +8% for Sports, and 6% Society & Culture through the week ending April 19.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for Top Categories
For Podtrac measured shows downloads week-over-week for the week April 13-19 compared to the week April 6-12 for top podcast categories are: -1% for News, -2% for Business, -4% for Comedy, +5% for Sports, -3% for 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 13-19 is: +57% for News, +33% for Government, +22% for Kids & Family, +20% for Business, +20% for Comedy, +13% for TV & Film, +12% for History, +9% for Science, +8% for Sports, +7% for Health & Fitness, +6% for Technology, +6% for Society & Culture, +5% for Arts, +4% for Religion & Spirituality, 0% for Leisure, -4% for Fiction, -11% for Education, -18% for Music, -26% for True Crime.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for All Categories
For Podtrac measured shows, category downloads week-over-week for the week April 13-19 compared to the week April 6-12 are: -1% for News, 0% for Government, +4% for Kids & Family, -2% for Business, -4% for Comedy, -8% for TV & Film, +6% for History, -10% for Science, +5% for Sports, +3% for Health & Fitness, 0% (unchanged) for Technology, -3% for Society & Culture, +4% for Arts, -3% for Religion & Spirituality, -3% for Leisure, +35% for Fiction, 0% (unchanged) for Education, -3% for Music, -18% for True Crime.
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 13-19 is: +21% for News, +9% for Business, +5% Comedy, -10% for Sports, +2% for 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 29% for the week of April 13-19 compared to the week of March 2-8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts. On Saturday April 18 the peak hour was up 9%, and for Sunday April 19 the peak hour was up 20%.