The FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago is likely a big reason why News category podcasts had the biggest bump last week. Podtrac says shows in that category had a seven percent jump in downloads compared to a week earlier among the podcasts its measures. And they were up 60% from a year ago despite the normally slow news days of mid-August.
Overall, podcast downloads increased three percent last week among shows measured by Podtrac. Compared to a year ago, downloads were up even more – rising 65% from the corresponding period last year for Podtrac measured shows.
The Health & Fitness category was among the weeks’ winners and losers. Podtrac says the shows it measures in that genre had the biggest week-to-week decline in downloads – they fell five percent – while at the same time Health & Fitness had the best year-over-year growth numbers of any genre, rising 151%.
Among some of the other show categories, Podtrac says Science podcast downloads were up six percent week to week. Also gaining were Comedy, Sports, True Crime and History – each was up two percent from a week earlier – while Arts (-4%) and Business (-2%) lost ground.
Podtrac earlier reported that the average top 20 publisher had a three percent month-over-month decrease in their U.S. unique monthly audience last month. But compared to a year earlier, July 2022’s unique reach for the top 20 publishers was up seven percent versus July 2021.
In terms of downloads, Podtrac says global downloads for the top 20 publishers overall increased three percent month-over-month during July. They were also up seven percent compared to the download numbers from a year earlier.
Among the publishers it measures, Podtrac says iHeartMedia had the most listeners and downloads, followed by Wondery, NPR, the New York Times, and NBC News.
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