Podcast fans feel passionate about the shows they listen to. That has become an established norm in the industry. But maybe they are also a little nicer than the average person too. Whatever the reason, an analysis of show reviews on Apple Podcasts by Pacific Content Head of Audience Development Dan Misener finds the vast majority of podcasts ratings are five stars.
Misener analyzed 19,973,595 ratings across 1,307,258 shows in Apple Podcasts in the U.S. That review revealed 87% of those were five-star reviews. Four-star reviews were the second most common. The lowest grade allowed by Apple Podcasts is a one-star review but fewer than one in ten reviewers gave that score. “If someone takes the time to rate your show in Apple Podcasts, they probably like it, love it or hate it. But they’re probably not indifferent,” said Misener in a blog post detailing his findings.
The series that have the most reviews were big hits, with Crime Junkie by far the most-reviewed show on Apple Podcasts with 248,000 reviews. The Joe Rogan Experience was second with 176,000 reviews, followed by Call Her Daddy(140,000), My Favorite Murder (131,000) and The Ben Shapiro Show (107,000). Perhaps just as unexpected as the high scores that listeners give, is that Misener also discovered that most podcasts do not have any star rating at all.
True Crime genre podcasts get the most ratings based on the analysis. Podcasts that also mark their show as containing “explicit language or adult content” get lots of feedback. Misener said he believes that podcasts containing explicit language or adult content are more likely to provoke strong listener responses, which come in the form of star ratings.
Overall, when the number crunching of nearly 20-million star ratings was completed Misener said he calculated the average star rating across all shows on Apple Podcasts was 4.6 out of 5.
Read his full blog post and see a show category-by-category breakdown HERE.
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