Podtrac releases its Podcast Industry Ranking for March 2024 (based on U.S. unique monthly audience
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. See the complete chart here.
Triton Digital releases its Top U.S. Podcasts ranker for February (Jan. 29 – Feb. 25) based on weekly average downloads for shows that opt in. NPR’s “NPR News Now” retains its #1 position, while
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. See the complete ranker here.
Triton Digital publishes its U.S. Podcast Ranker for January (Jan. 1 – 28) based on weekly average downloads from participating networks and NPR’s “NPR News Now” maintains its #1 ranking, while
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. See the complete ranker here.
Edison Research publishes its Top 50 U.S. Podcasts chart for the fourth quarter of 2023, based on total audience reach from its Edison Podcast Metrics. “The Joe Rogan Experience” remains ranked #1, with audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” steady at #2 and The New York Times’ “The Daily” maintaining the #3
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+.
Triton Digital releases its U.S. Podcast Ranker for December 2023 (based on weekly average downloads) and NPR’s popular shows return to the ranker after a month away due to a planned data
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). See the complete ranker here.
The most significant movement at the top of Triton Digital’s U.S. Podcast Ranker for November 2023 (10/30-12/3) is the temporary absence of NPR programs due to a planned data collection migration. As a
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.
Cumulus Media’s Westwood One announces that talk host Dan Bongino extends his contract to host both his eponymous syndicated daily radio program and his podcasts, including the unique podcast “The Dan Bongino Show,” on the Cumulus Podcast Network for multiple years. This comes a couple of years after Bongino said he would not renew his contract when it ran out because of his very public protestation
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.”
Cumulus Media announces its Cumulus Podcast Network is now providing brand suitability and safety measurement through Barometer, which provides brand-suitability measurement and contextual targeting unique to the podcast space. Cumulus says that this allows marketers and media agencies to
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.”
Triton Digital releases its ranker of the top U.S. podcasts based on weekly average downloads and nothing has changed at the top of the chart from last month, with NBCUniversal New Group’s “Dateline
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. See the complete ranker here.
Podtrac publishes data from its October 2023 ranking of the top podcast publishers, sales networks and podcasts. The podcast ranker for the period has The New York Times’ “The Daily” at #1 again, with
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.
The September podcast ranker (Sept. 4 – Oct. 1) from Triton Digital is a bit wonky as NPR’s shows are not included due to “a planned data collection migration,” and for the third month in a row there is a problem with Cumulus experiencing a data collection issue for DailyWire programs such as “The Ben
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. See the complete ranker here.
This week’s Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group blog investigates the connection between AM/FM radio listening and podcast listening and concludes that “a majority of the podcast audience also listens to AM/FM radio and vice versa.” It reports that Edison Research’s Infinite Dial study reveals that of the weekly AM/FM radio audience 45% listen to podcasts weekly, 55% listen to podcasts
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. Read the blog here.
Triton Digital’s ranker of the top U.S. podcasts for August (July 31 – Sept. 3) based on weekly average downloads has been released and not much has changed in the top ranks. NPR’s “NPR News Now” remains ranked #1, followed by audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” at #2, and NBCUniversal New Group’s
“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. See the August ranker here.
According to data from Podtrac (based on U.S. unique monthly audience), The New York Times’ “The Daily” stays atop its Top Podcasts chart for the period of August 2023. The Daily Wire/Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Ben Shapiro Show” stayed in its spot at #7, iHeartPodcast’s “Stuff You Should Know”
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.
Cumulus Media and sports media personality Rich Eisen announce a new deal with the Cumulus Podcast Network to distribute, market, and monetize all existing and forthcoming podcasts with the newly formed Rich Eisen Podcast Network. This includes Eisen’s latest production, “What The Football with Suzy Shuster and Amy Trask,” which debuts on September 12. Most recently, Eisen launched
“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.
Triton Digital is releasing the July 2023 U.S. Podcast Report that ranks podcasts based on weekly average downloads for participating publishers. NPR’s “NPR News Now” remains in the #1 position, with audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” taking over the #2 spot from NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC,” now at #3. 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. See the complete July ranker here.
Podtrac releases its latest Top 20 charts for podcast publishers, sales networks, and podcasts for the period of July 2023. News podcasts remain popular in the U.S. as this month’s chart confirms with The New York Times’
“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.
Edison Research announces the Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. based on reach for the second quarter of 2023 (April – June) among weekly podcast listeners age 13+. The list ranks podcast networks based on total audience
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).