Triton Podcast Ranker Sees iHeart Stay On Top While Audioboom, Cumulus Move Up.

Triton Digital says the iHeart Audience Network remained in the top spot in February, with 70.8 million average weekly downloads in the U.S. The exit of Audacy from the sales network ranker brought steps forward in the rankings for all the remaining sales networks in the ranking, with Audiobook advancing to second place with 16.6 million average weekly downloads in February. The Cumulus Podcast Network moved up to third, with 3.6 million.

While Triton lost one publisher last month, it added another. In Touch Ministries joined the ranking with 203,000 average weekly downloads in February.

Triton’s monthly reports include only publishers that opt-in to the measurement program and reflect the period of Feb. 2 to March 1.

Unlike Triton’s quarterly updates that include publishers that aren’t subscribers, the monthly updates rely on server-side data. While not a complete view of the industry, they do offer some insight into where things are heading. And it is led by a pair of returns.

Crooked Media’s “Pod Save America” returned to the Triton’s Average Weekly Downloads ranker in February, and it became the biggest show based on downloads — a boost for Audioboom, which sells Crooked ad time. The iHeart Audience Network’s “Stuff You Should Know” ranked second. It was followed by Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show,” which is back in production, nearly a year after the host exited from a role at the FBI.

There were also several debuts in the Triton rankings. They included In Touch Ministries’ “Daily Radio Program with Charles Stanley,” Audioboom’s “Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield,” iHeart’s “High Strange,” Gamut Podcast Network’s “The Rizzuto Show,” and Lemonada Media’s “Smash Boom Best.

The February update is a stripped down, mid-quarter report from Triton Digital, which is now releasing expanded quarterly updates that not only feature a ranking of the top 200 shows but also new insights by show, genre, and audience profile. They also include more than 40 demographic and purchase intent segments sourced from the Demos+ survey and audience profiles collected and assembled by Triton in collaboration with Signal Hill Insights.

The latest quarterly ranking shows “The Joe Rogan Experience” remained the most listened-to podcast during the third quarter, followed by Audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie,” The New York Times’ “The Daily,” and SiriusXM’s “Call Her Daddy.”

The latest release for February features only server-side measurement data from companies that have opted-in to Triton rankings. Read Triton Digital’s latest U.S. Podcast Ranker HERE.