Podtrac: iHeart Leads May Rankings, As Most Publishers Gain Listeners In U.S.

May was a good month for a majority of the podcast publishers and networks measured by Podtrac. It reports 14 of the top 20 posted growth in their U.S. audiences last month compared to April. The change of seasons may have something to do with why most, while holding onto their listeners, saw downloads soften. Podtrac says just three of the companies on the U.S. ranking had more downloads and streams.

It was another month of a double win for iHeartPodcasts. Podtrac says it again ranked as the biggest individual publisher among those it measures with 35 million U.S. listeners in May, and 176 million downloads and streams. At the same time, the iHeart Audience Network — which includes not only its shows but roughly 29,000 podcasts from other publishers — had a combined 72 million U.S. listeners in May and 360 million downloads and streams.

The NPR Sales Network, which includes 69 podcasts from public media producers, logged 91 million downloads last month as its U.S. audience reached nearly 23 million.

Libsyn’s sales network ranked fourth, with 22 million U.S. listeners and 91 million downloads, which was enough to keep it ahead of the Acast sales network, which had 20 million U.S. listeners and 74 million downloads last month.

April brought another win for the iHeart Audience Network not just in the U.S. but across the globe. Podtrac says it was the biggest global network last month, with 741 million downloads, streams and YouTube views. Podtrac says iHeart’s total included more than 185 million YouTube views. The drop in audio downloads and streams was offset by a month-to-month increase of 12 million YouTube views for the more than 34,000 shows that are part of iHeart’s global network, showing the growing role for the video streaming platform in podcast consumption not just in the U.S., but globally.

Acast may have ranked fifth in the U.S., but it was the second-largest global network measured by Podtrac in May. It measured 388 million downloads, streams and views for the 68,427 shows in Acast’s network — the biggest by far of any measured by Podtrac.

While Libsyn ranks higher than Acast in the U.S., the two trade roles worldwide as Libsyn ranked third globally with 226 million downloads last month.

Paramount overtook Sonoro Global Media to finish in fourth place during May. Podtrac says Paramount’s network was powered by more YouTube views than audio downloads. It says the 36 shows in Paramount’s network had 45 million YouTube views worldwide in May, while its audio downloads and streams totaled 26 million.

Podtrac says all the global networks had declines in May vs. April in their combined totals for audio and video downloads, streams and views. The ranker also shrank by one, as The Athletic is no longer included in the ranking of global networks.

Podtrac’s rankings only include publishers and networks that subscribe to its service, which means that some large podcast distributors, such as SiriusXM, Spotify and Wondery, are not included in its monthly update.