“The Benny Show” Joins Cumulus Podcast Network
Cumulus Media’s Westwood One announces that “The Benny Show” – hosted by award-winning creator, streamer, and podcaster Benny Johnson – joins the Cumulus Podcast Network. WWO says that Johnson
has amassed “a combined 12 million subscribers across platforms. ‘The Benny Show’ has become a go-to platform for the next generation of news consumers and creators alike. The program features commentary and exclusive interviews with special guests including presidential candidates, world leaders, cultural icons and Hollywood actors.” Under Westwood One’s leadership, the Cumulus Podcast Network distributes, markets, and monetizes “The Benny Show” exclusively with this new partnership. WWO president Collin R. Jones says, “As the Cumulus Podcast Network further expands into video, ‘The Benny Show’ is a natural addition to our portfolio of personality-driven talk shows. Benny is well known on YouTube as a strong and independent voice in conservative talk. He challenges mainstream opinions with cutting-edge insight and straightforward questions, capturing both listeners and partners with his streamlined, frank approach.”
Now and Up First in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively, and NBCUniversal News Group’s Dateline NBC at #3. Movement of note for news/talk radio-related podcasts includes Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rising one place to #6; iHeart Audience Network’s “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton” show moves three spots to #23; and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Shawn Ryan Show” advances 13 places to the #26 rank. 
The New York Times’ “The Daily” at #1, NPR’s “NPR News Now” and “First Up” at #2 and #3, respectively, NBC News’ “Dateline NBC” at #4 and Wondery’s “Morbid” at #5. FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” rose one spot to the #6 rank, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “Shawn Ryan Show” moved up seven places to finish at the #13 spot. 
Podcast Network for multiple years. Additionally, Levin will also develop and host an all-new show for the network, his first ever original content podcast series. Levin’s radio show airs live from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm nightly on close to 400 affiliate stations. He says, “This has been my radio home for 23 years, and I am more excited than ever – especially during these tumultuous and historic times – to continue my relationship with my first-rate broadcast partners for many years to come. I understand my obligation is to serve the millions of patriotic Americans in the audience. I am blessed to do what I do, and I am committed every day to providing detailed analyses of current events along with historic context, commentary, and my in-depth perspectives to deliver the very best broadcasting I am able to share with our many listeners.”
podcasts) for April 2024 and NPR’s “NPR News Now” retains its #1 rank, followed by sister program “Up First” at #2 and audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #3. Other radio related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rising one place to #6, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” sliding back one place to #17, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” also moving back one spot to #28. 
for participating podcasts) and, while not a lot changes from last month, NPR’s “NPR News Now” took over the #1 spot from The New York Times’ “The Daily,” which falls to #2. Cumulus Podcasts Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rises one spot to #10, and FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” climbs two places to #12. 
NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” jumps two spots to #2, bumping audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” to #4. NPR’s “Up First” remains in the #3 position. Other radio-related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rising one spot to #6, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” slipping two places to #17, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” falling three spots to #27. 
NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” drops two spots to #4 and audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” rises to #2 and NPR’s “Up First” climbs to #3. Other radio related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” steady at #7, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” rising three spots to #15, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” up one place to #24. 
spot. But the big story is the rise of WSE Originals’ “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” shooting from #67 in the Q3 2023 report to #6 in the Q4 chart. (The show was not in the top 100 in the Q2 2023 survey.) Edison says the show starring Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce “gained four and a half times the number of listeners and saw a change in composition to 50% female listeners.” Other noteworthy moves from radio-related podcasts include The DailyWire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” rising from #17 in Q3 to #9 in Q4 and Cumulus Podcasts Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” climbing from #29 in Q3 to #26 in Q4. Edison’s Q4 2023 ranker was conducted from October 9, 2023 to December 23, 2023, and is based on surveys of 5,356 weekly podcast listeners age 13+.
collection migration. NPR’s “NPR News Now” is back in the #1 spot, followed by NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” at #2, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #3, and NPR’s “Up First” at #4. Other radio-related podcasts in the top 25 include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7 (down three places), Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” at #18 (down six spots), and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” at #25 (down nine places). 
result, NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” is ranked #1, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” remains at #2, Wondery’s “Morbid” is #3, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” is steady at #4. Other talk radio-related programs of note include Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” steady at #12 and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” down three spots from the October ranker at #16. Triton Digital’s ranker is based on average weekly downloads and ranks participating networks. 
over Cumulus’ mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy. Bongino says, “It’s been a fascinating couple years of ups and downs both personally and in the political space. I love what I do, and I’m ecstatic that we’ve agreed to move forward with the show after changes were made. I want to thank all the shows’ supporters, the stations, and program directors for their continued support. I promise to keep my foot on the gas pedal.” Westwood One president Suzanne Grimes states, “‘The Dan Bongino Show’ is one of the greatest growth stories in network syndication, with Dan delivering programming unlike anyone else. As we head into what will surely be an unpredictable election cycle, we know Dan will be always insightful, sometimes provocative, and never disappointing, which is why our listeners are wildly engaged, and our advertisers have flocked to the show.”
be able to review podcasts to ensure they meet their brand’s safety and suitability standards. Brands are also able to monitor their ad-buys during and after the campaigns to ensure their standards are being upheld. Westwood One SVP, sales and digital partnerships David Cohn comments, “We are proud to provide Barometer’s transparency and accountability to the marketplace. Brand marketers now represent 61% of U.S. podcast revenue. Advertisers deserve a brand-suitability solution that is designed for the unique attributes of podcast content rather than the legacy systems that were designed for display and online video.”
NBC” at #1, audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #2, Wondery’s “Morbid” at #3 and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #4. Radio-related podcasts of note in this ranker include Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” rising four places to #12, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” up two places to #13, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Shawn Ryan Show” rising five places to #24. 
NPR’s “Up First” taking over the #2 spot from NBC News’ “Dateline NBC,” which falls to #3. Other commercial radio-related podcasts charting in the top 20 include The Daily Wire’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” at #6, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #9, and iHeartPodcast’s “Stuff You Should Know” at #10. The ranker is based on Unique U.S. Monthly Audience for participating podcasts.
Shapiro Show,” which ranked #3 in the June 2023 ranker. This means that NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” rises to #1 with audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” remaining in the #2 spot. Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” moves up three spots to the #4 rank. Other noteworthy moves from radio-related companies includes Audacy Podcast Network’s “We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle” climbing 11 spots to the #14 rank and Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” up six places to the #16 rank. There is more dramatic movement among shows in the 20 – 100 portion of the ranker, including NBCUniversal News Group’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” falling 26 spots to the #76 rank. 
monthly, and 77% have ever listened to podcasts. “All of this podcast and AM/FM radio audience duplication means there are great cross-promotion opportunities.” Among the podcast audience, over half the ad-supported time spent goes to podcasts themselves at a 53% share. AM/FM radio follows with a 37% share. Distantly following are ad-supported SiriusXM (4%), ad-supported Spotify (3%), and ad-supported Pandora (3%). Additionally, MARU/Matchbox was commissioned to study Cumulus Media radio listeners who listened for at least an hour to stations in Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Atlanta and were exposed to promos for eight Cumulus Podcast Network podcast titles. Overall, 54% of the Cumulus radio audience were aware of the eight Cumulus Podcast Network podcasts. A much larger promotion of heavy AM/FM radio listeners (67%) were aware of the podcast titles, and a whopping 75% of the heavy AM/FM radio streaming audience were aware of the podcast titles. 
“Dateline NBC” at #3. Radio related podcasts in the top 25 of this ranker include: Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “Mark Levin Podcast” rising four spots to #19, and Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” at #22. Just as it did last month, Triton notes that Cumulus experienced data collection issues with the Daily Wire shows (such as “The Ben Shapiro Show” which ranked #3 in the June report) during this period. 
remained at #9, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rose one spot to #11, and FOX Audio Network’s “FOX News Hourly Update” fell one spot to #16. Other data from Podtrac from this report includes: 1) U.S. unique monthly audience increased for all but one of the Top 20 publishers in August 2023 over July 2023; 2) The average U.S. unique monthly audience for the Top 20 publishers was up 13% month-over-month and down 3% over July 2022; 3) Total global downloads for the Top 20 publishers were up 7% month-over-month and flat year-over-year; and 4) The combined audience for the Top Sales Networks was up 15% month-over-month.
“Overreaction Monday” on September 4 that expands on the most popular segment of his flagship podcast, “The Rich Eisen Show,” into its own weekly podcast with Eisen and co-host Chris Brockman reflecting on the biggest fan- and hysterical media-driven overreactions from the previous weekend’s professional and college football games. To support his growing podcast network, Eisen has built an expanded studio and team in El Segundo, California with state-of-the-art recording equipment and set design. Eisen says, “Since joining the Cumulus family, they have shown unwavering support for my vision in growing my brand. As I have expanded my suite of services, they were the only ones I wanted to do business with, and I couldn’t think of a better place for my voice and productions to be heard over the coming years.” In addition to his podcast network, Eisen hosts the pregame and halftime shows for Westwood One’s syndicated “Monday Night Football” coverage and anchors “The Rich Eisen Show,” also syndicated by Westwood One for national radio.
related podcasts in the top 25 include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” at #21, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” at #22. Triton notes that Cumulus experienced data collection issues with the Daily Wire shows (such as “The Ben Shapiro Show” which ranked #3 in the June report) during this period. 
“The Daily” ranked #1 (based on unique U.S. monthly audience). NBC News’ “Dateline NBC” came in #3 and NPR’s “NPR News Now” was #4. The lone talk radio personality whose podcast landed in Podtrac’s Top 20 was Dan Bongino. His Cumulus Podcast Network show ranked #11.
reach from Edison Podcast Metrics. “The Joe Rogan Experience” is #1 for this period, followed by audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #2, and The New York Times’ “The Daily” at #3. Podcasts hosted by commercial talk radio personalities that made the Top 50 include: Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” (#8), Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” (#21), The Ramsey Network’s “The Ramsey Show” (#22), and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Matt Walsh Show” (#42). 
in the #1 position while NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” rises to the #2 rank. Rounding out the top five is audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #3, Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” at #4, and NPR’s “Up First” at #5. Also in the top 10 for June was Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” at #7. 
audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie,” followed by Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Ben Shapiro Show,” which rises from #4 to #3. Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” was steady at #7, while the company’s “The Matt Walsh Show” climbed two spots to #19. The Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” fell two spots to #21.