Podtrac sent over some revealing charts of podcast audience and download trending, shining light on how listeners are consuming podcasts during the Covid-19 crisis. These charts will be updated weekly and released publicly. We are sharing the first round here, along with Podtrac explanations.

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“U.S. podcast downloads decreased 1% during the week of March 9, 2020 and 2% the week of March 16 across all Podtrac measured podcasts. U.S. weekly podcast audiences decreased 2% the week of March 9 and 8% the week of March 16.” (see below)

“Download growth since the first week of January is 31% and audience growth is 14% through the week of March 16.” (see below)

“For Podtrac measured shows, download growth year-to-date for top podcast categories is: 74% for News, 34% for Comedy, 21% for Sports, 12% for Society & Culture, and -8% for True Crime through the week of March 16.” (see below) NOTE: In the chart below, and the next one farther down, you can see that there might be a flight to news podcasts — as Podtrac CEO Mark McCrery pointed out to us in an email. He noted that it’s too soon to tell.

“Weekly category audience year-to-date for top podcast categories is: 36% for News, 14% for Comedy, 7% for Sports, 5% for Society & Culture, and -6% for True Crime through the week of March 16. (see below)

 

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