News And Religion Were Blubrry’s Top Podcast Genres In 2024.

Blubrry has released its year-end statistics showing that among the podcasts it hosts, 6,366,128 episodes were released last year. That is more than triple the 2.1 million it published for its podcasters five years ago, and 600,000 more than were released in 2023. While the summer months showed the fewest episode releases, autumn brought the best numbers with October the biggest month last year for Blubrry episode releases.

Among podcasts hosted by Blubrry, the genre with the most episode releases last year was News, accounting for more than one in five (22.2%) of its episode releases. The company credits that to major global events, including the U.S. election, international conflicts, and economic developments. Religion and Spirituality was a close second, accounting for 21.3% of episode releases, followed by Sports (8.2%), Business (7.9%), and Society & Culture (7.6%). “The relatively even distribution among these categories suggests that podcast listeners are increasingly diverse in their content preferences,” it says in a blog post.

Blubrry says the majority of the episodes it hosts were consumed on Apple Podcasts last year, with the app representing 57% of all downloads. But the company points out the share steadily declined throughout the year, reaching a low of 47% in September. Its read on the numbers is that there is a shift in audience behavior, although it notes by November, Apple’s share had begun to recover, climbing back to 53%.

It also says listeners to Blubrry-hosted shows averaged an 81% episode completion rate, although 9% of episodes had less than a quarter listened-to.