Edison Research releases Top 50 U.S. Podcasts for 2020, Joe Rogan to Fake Doctors

Yes, another ranker. But the Edison Research Top 50 is distinguished by its underpinning of in-the-field survey work, part of the company’s Podcast Consumer Tracking Report. Over 10,000 podcast listeners were queried about their show preferences “continuously throughout 2020.” This means that, unlike server-side measurement by online tech companies, no podcast on earth is excluded. Click for details and the entire list. Continue Reading

Podtrac Top Podcast Publishers for January, plus RAIN remix

Podtrac has released the January edition of the measurement company’s Top Podcast Publishers ranker. (See graphic below.) As always in this ranking, iHeartRadio (#1) and NPR (#2) reside at the top. We take an interest in remixing this ranker with an eye to the number of active shows for each publisher. The result reorders the list according to the average number of downloads per show, and average number of listeners per show. Click through for the original Podtrac table, and the RAIN remixes.
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Magellan top 15 podcast advertisers, and RAIN remix

Podcast advertising intelligence company Magellan AI released its December report of top podcast advertisers. This month’s roundup includes the single-month list, and a year-to-date (YTD) list which serves as a 2020 view of the top marketing money spent in podcasting. We have gathered the list data into three tables that sort advertising spend in three ways: Top December advertisers, top 2020 advertisers, and a concentration measure of money spent per show. Click through for the goods. Continue Reading

iHeartRadio and NPR demonstrate key network strategies (Podtrac Top Publishers)

In the December 2020 Top Podcast Publishers report from Podtrac, iHeartRadio held the #1 slot and NPR maintained its #2 ranking — those two networks remaining invulnerable to competitive infringement in the entire history of Podtrac’s ranking. As we have noted before, iHR and NPR pursue opposite audience concentration strategies. A glance backward shows that each of these two juggernauts has doubled down on its strategy. Click through for numbers and an illustrative chart. Continue Reading

Podspec: Which show has the most episodes in Apple’s top 200 Episodes in Comedy? (Hint: Is it smart?)

There are many ways to measure a hit podcast. Audience reach. Downloads. Number of reviews. Star rating. Another is to observe how persistent the back catalog is in charts. We looked at Apple’s top-200 Episodes chart in the U.S., in the Comedy category — with a goal of discovering which shows hold the most chart placements. Click through for the results. Continue Reading

Bank of America, McDonald’s lead increased podcast spend in November (Magellan AI)

Podcast advertising intelligence company Magellan AI released its “Spenders, Movers & Shakers” list for November. Bank of America and McDonald’s take the #1 and #2 spots for increased podcast ad spending. Bank of America jumped from $128,000 in October to 1.9-million in November. Mcdonald’s jumped from $174,000 to $1.7-million. Click through for context and the full list. Continue Reading

Global Top-20 streaming +5% in October, and longterm U.S. streaming trend (Triton Digital Webcast Metrics

U.S. stream listening in September was steady as a month-over-month metric following August, according to Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. While group leader Pandora dipped by about one percent, gains for iHeartRadio, RADIO.COM, and ESPN helped keep the overall ship on an even keel. Click through for RAIN’s long-term trend chart from 2009 to present. Continue Reading

Podtrac Top 2020 podcasts: Two-list comparison

Podtrac released its Top 25 New Podcasts of 2020 list. The release follows an earlier reckoning at the end of Q3 — an intermediary list. We compare the two for a look at which podcasts (six of them) were added in the two months which separate the two list measurements. Click through for the graphic. also — the network power of Wondery and iHeartRadio is on display. Continue Reading