iHeartRadio remained at the top of Podtrac’s monthly ranker of the biggest podcast publishers in September as it hit a new high-water mark for downloads. Podtrac says iHeart had nearly 282 million streams and downloads last month, a 12% increase from a month earlier. The company also added 30 podcasts to its list of active shows, bringing its total to 620.
NPR was again in second place as its streams and downloads grew one percent month-to-month with a September tally of nearly 161 million. NPR added one new podcast to its list of active shows last month.
Amazon-owned Wondery moved up to third place in August and it held onto that position in September as its download total increased three percent. The New York Times stayed at No. 4 despite a five percent drop in its total downloads month-to-month. And the Walt Disney Co. – which includes the podcasts of both ABC and ESPN, among others – also held onto fifth place as its downloads jumped 22% between August and September.
In the rest of the top ten, the Cumulus Podcast Network moved ahead of Barstool Sports last month. Podtrac says Cumulus’ download total increased 11%. The Daily Wire also had a 13% increase in downloads to return to the top ten, pushing All Things Comedy back to No. 11, despite a one percent bump in its download tally.
Overall, Podtrac says five of the top 20 publishers had growth in their unique monthly U.S. audience in September compared to August. It reports the average publisher had a seven percent month-over-month decline in their U.S. unique monthly audience last month. But while total unique audience may have shrunk, downloads did not. Podtrac says 16 of the top 20 had an increase in their streams and download numbers.
Podtrac also announced that The Daily Wire joined its list of verified publishers in September.
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