The week of May 25-31 was down 4% for both downloads and audience compared to the previous week due to lower podcast streams and downloads on Memorial Day.
Weekly downloads since the first week of January are up 31% and weekly audience is up 13% through the week ending May 31, 2020 across all Podtrac measured podcasts.
With the exception of Memorial Day, downloads during peak weekday commute times continue to trend up since a low point the week of April 13-19.
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This is our 11th consecutive weekly update. We began publishing these updates in response to the shutdown on March 9, which corresponded to two consecutive weeks of negative podcast download and audience growth across all the shows we measure. Since a low point the week of April 13-19, growth has been largely positive and on track for recovery.
Podtrac measures thousands of podcast publishers and podcasts, including those listed on our monthly rankings, and over a billion downloads and streams a month.
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Year-To-Date U.S. Weekly Podcast Download and Audience Growth
Download growth since the first week of January is up 31% and audience growth is up 13% through the week ending June 31, 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 May 25-31, +5% the week May 18-24, +4% the week of May 11-17, 0% (unchanged) the week May 4-10, 0% the week April 27 - May 3, +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: -4% the week May 25-31, +4% the week of May 18-24, +3% the week of May 11-17, +1% the week May 4-10, +2% the week April 27 - May 3, +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 8 of the Top 10 Publishers listed on Podtrac’s Publisher Rankings were lower for the month of April vs. March.
Among the Top 5 Publishers, average U.S. monthly downloads per publisher were 104.4 million for April which was down 6% from March, but still up 9% from January 2020.
Among the Top 10 Publishers, average U.S. monthly downloads per publisher were 67.6 million for April which was down 6% from March, but still up 3% from January 2020.
To date, average downloads per month for the Top 5 and Top 10 Publishers have been higher each month in 2020 than any month in 2019.
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: +62% for News, +57% Comedy, +30% Business, +18% Sports and +16% Society & Culture through the week ending May 31.
Week-Over-Week U.S. Podcast Download Growth for Top Categories
For Podtrac measured shows downloads week-over-week for the week May 25-31 compared to the week May 18-24 for top podcast categories are: -3% for News, -8% Comedy, -3% for Business, -13% for Sports and +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 May 25-31 is: +70% for Government, +62% for News, +57% for Comedy, +31% for Kids & Family, +30% for Business, +24 for Technology, +23% for History, +22% for Science, +21% for Education, +19% for Health & Fitness, +18% for Sports, +18% for TV & Film, +16% for Society & Culture, +14% for Arts, +5% for Leisure, -2% for True Crime, -6% for Religion & Spirituality, -14% for Fiction and -23% 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 May 25-31 compared to the week May 18-24 are: +4% for Government, -3% for News, -8% for Comedy, +1% for Kids & Family, -3% for Business, +3 for Technology, +2% for History, +5% for Science, +6% for Education, 0% (unchanged) for Health & Fitness, -13% for Sports, -2% for TV & Film, -3% for Society & Culture, +5% for Arts, -5% for Leisure, -3% for True Crime, -18% for Religion & Spirituality, -10% for Fiction and +1% 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 May 25-31 is: +24% for News, +41% Comedy, +14% for Business, -1% for Sports and +11% 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 14% for the week of May 25-31 compared to the week of March 2-8 across all Podtrac measured podcasts. On Monday, May 25, Memorial Day, the peak hour was down 36%. On Saturday May 30 the peak hour was up 28%, and for Sunday May 31 the peak hour was up 22%. With the exception of Memorial Day, downloads during peak weekday commute times continue to trend up since a low point the week of April 13-19.