Edison Research has released a public version of its subscription product Podcast Consumer Tracker (PCT). The PCT is intended to rank podcasts by reach, while most rankers use downloads as the determining factor of their lists.
Some other rankers also give information about audience size. Edison’s product is differentiated in a couple of ways. First, it is based on consumer surveying, not on server measurements. And, because of Edison’s ability to segment survey respondents, the PCT can (and does) focus on weekly podcast listeners. so the list below represents top percentages of shows consumed by active podcast listeners.
The time period represented in today’s release is Q3 2019 through Q2 2020.
Along with the list, an interesting COVID-related note from Edison SVP Tom Webster: “Even with the work and life disruptions caused by COVID-19, people did continue listening to their favorite podcasts, and we ultimately saw little to no reduction in reach among weekly podcast listeners.”
Here’s the list:
| Rank | Podcast | Producer |
| 1 | The Joe Rogan Experience | Joe Rogan |
| 2 | The Daily | The New York Times |
| 3 | This American Life | This American Life/Serial |
| 4 | My Favorite Murder | Exactly Right |
| 5 | Crime Junkie | Audiochuck |
| 6 | Stuff You Should Know | HowStuffWorks |
| 7 | Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! | NPR |
| 8 | Planet Money | NPR |
| 9 | Pod Save America | Crooked Media |
| 10 | Serial | This American Life/Serial |
| 11 | Radiolab | WNYC Studios |
| 12 | Fresh Air | NPR/WHYY |
| 13 | Office Ladies | Earwolf |
| 14 | The Dave Ramsey Show | Ramsey Solutions |
| 15 | Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend | Earwolf |
| 16 | WTF with Marc Maron Podcast | Independent |
| 17 | The Ben Shapiro Show | The Daily Wire |
| 18 | Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard | Armchair Umbrella |
| 19 | Freakonomics Radio | Dubner Productions |
| 20 | TED Talks Daily (tie) | TED |
| 20 | Up First (tie) | NPR |
| 22 | Hidden Brain | NPR |
| 23 | Bill Simmons Podcast | The Ringer |
| 24 | Criminal | Radiotopia |
| 25 | Last Podcast On The Left | Last Podcast Network |
| 26 | Call Her Daddy | Barstool Sports |
| 27 | H3 Podcast | h3h3productions |
| 28 | Lore | Independent |
| 29 | The Breakfast Club (tie) | iHeartRadio |
| 29 | The Moth (tie) | The Moth |