Podtrac releases top 20 podcasts ranker for September

Podcast measurement company Podtrac today released its Top Podcasts report for September. It is the second monthly edition of that report, which started in August. In May of this year, Podtrac launched its Podcast Industry Ranking, which lists the top 10 podcast publishers.

The September Podcasts ranker resembles the August results, with 18 of the 20 shows repeating, though many in different ranking slots. Two changes show up:

  • Invisibilia (NPR) dropped off from its #20 position in August.
  • Fantasy Football Focus (ESPN) joined the September list at #14.

Unlike the Industry ranking of podcast publishers, the Podcasts list includes shows that are not Podtrac measurement clients. Those programs are marked with asterisks, and there are two of them in the September ranker. One is The Joe Rogan Show (publishers: Joe Rogan), and the other is marked “Publisher declined to list show.” Measurement of non-clients is explained by Podtrac like this: “Ranking of these shows is determined by a proprietary Podtrac algorithm which uses publicly available data.”

Unsurprisingly, NPR is the heavy-hitting publisher in the September list, as it was in August. This time, six NPR shows made the list. PRX is represented three times, WNYC twice, and this American Life/Serial twice (for This American Life and Serial, it probably would go without saying). That means that non-commercial producers are responsible for 13 of the 20 shows.

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Brad Hill