Media attention for conservative commentator Matt Walsh has paid off. Podtrac says the Daily Wire host saw his podcast enter its ranking of top 20 podcasts during May as Walsh made headlines for anti-LGBTQ comments. Podtrac says it was the 17th most listened-to show among publishers it measures last month. He launched The Matt Walsh Show in April 2018 and the series has also gained traction after Westwood One began distributing the podcast in December as part of its afternoon lineup of talk radio shows.
Podtrac says the New York Times-produced The Daily was the most listened-to show for a 56th consecutive month in May in what remains a fairly stable list of shows that make the top shows. The NBC News podcast Dateline NBC remained in second place, followed by Wondery’s true crime podcast Morbid -- which moved up one spot -- with the NPR morning news series Up First, and the NPR News Now podcast rounding out the top five.
The latest update also shows the return of Yardvark’s This Past Weekend to Podtrac’s ranker was not a fluke. It jumped to No. 12 in April, and it remained there in May.
Podtrac says NPR had four shows in the top 20 last month and Wondery had two while no other publisher had more than one entry in the ranker.
Overall, Podtrac says the average unique monthly listeners in the U.S. for the top 20 publishers it measures increased one percent between April and May. And on a year-to-year basis, May’s audience reach was flat. Total global downloads for the top 20 publishers increased three percent month-to-month. They were also flat compared to a year ago.