We see a continuing five-month trend manifesting in the monthly podcast metrics published by Listen Notes. (See the data HERE.) As was the case last month, new podcast launches dropped in August, to 11,029 new shows from the previous month (13,521), showing the lowest new-show production in a year:
(It should be noted that Listen Notes monthly data continues trickling in after the month ends, so the August bar above might rise a bit. However, unlike past months’ coverage, we have waited a week before reporting this monthly trendline.)
In the whole-year view, the post-Covid trend of lower production appears to be continuing for 2023, but to a much smaller extent. The chart below shows indicates a possible 2023 outcome nearly equaling the 240,000 new podcasts in 20223/
2023, reaching for 2022’s total of 239,000 new titles launched. If podcast launches continue through 2023 at the current pace, the 2023 total would be 206,285 new shows.
“Dead podcasts” (deleted RSS feed and/or iTunes:complete tag is set to “Yes”) continue to be low for 2023 at this point — a sign of creative stability. Only 18,000 (rounded) shows are certifiably abandoned, projecting to the lowest number of podcast quits since 2015.
We also note that Society and Culture podcasts top the category list for August (as in past months), followed by Education, Arts, and Business (also as in past months).
Spotify-owned Anchor continues to be the most used hosting platform, with a staggering 56% of that business. Dozens of alternatives split the remainder; Buzzsprout leads that long tail with nearly six percent.
