Triton Says iHeart, NPR, Audacy Lead U.S. Podcast Rankings For March.

Triton Digital reports the iHeartPodcast Audience Network remained the biggest U.S. sales network among those it measured in March. Triton says iHeart earned the top spot again on the Top Sales Networks report, with 71.2 million average weekly downloads, which was a small increase from February. And iHeart had 20.2 million average weekly users last month.

NPR remained in second, with 27.8 million average weekly downloads and 7.2 million average weekly users in March — which was an increase in users but a dip in downloads when compared to the prior month. The Audacy Podcast Network ranked third with 16.2 million average weekly downloads, a jump of 14% month-to-month, and 6.1 million average weekly users, which was up 13% from February.

Paramount, which had been in sixth place in January, pulled out of the Triton ranker in February, but returned in March — in sixth place behind both Audioboom and the Cumulus Podcast Network. But the return of Paramount also pushed all the networks in the top ten back one place, including Salem Podcast Network, Soundrise, American Public Media Group, and All Things Comedy.

Triton says the top three podcasts based on downloads were NPR News Now, which again was followed by NPR’s Up First and Cumulus Podcast Network’s Vince. That is the successor to The Dan Bongino Show, hosted by Vince Coglianese and produced by Silverloch Productions, the production company founded by Dan and Paula Bongino. The remainder of the top five includes iHeart’s Stuff You Should Know and Paramount’s 48 Hours.

When the podcasts are ranked by the number of unique listeners, the top three podcasts included NPR News Now, followed by NPR’s Up First and Vince.

Triton reports there were several debuts for the month of March based on both downloads and listeners, including Trump’s Terms (NPR), This is Gavin Newsom (iHeart Audience Network), and Fantasy Baseball Today (Audacy Podcast Network).

While this report features only publishers that subscribe to Triton Digital’s measurement service, the company has announced plans to expand its measurement of the podcast industry with new quarterly updates that rank the biggest shows and publishers regardless of whether they are a subscriber to its services.

Triton will add quarterly survey-based listener rankings to the existing U.S. Podcast Ranker that is issued each month based on downloads. Triton says the quarterly ranking of the podcasts with the most listeners, based on a nationally representative survey that includes all publishers and podcasts, will offer a more holistic view of podcast consumption. The survey will be conducted in collaboration with Signal Hill Insights, which has partnered with Triton since 2021. 

Download Triton Digital’s latest U.S. Podcast Ranker HERE.