Edison Research Announces Delivery of the First Podcast Consumer Tracker Report

Somerville NJ, USA—Edison Research has delivered to clients the first and only comprehensive measure of the comparative reach of America’s top podcast networks, the Podcast Consumer Tracker. Edison, the leading podcast research company in the world, has been studying this rapidly evolving medium since 2006, and the Podcast Consumer Tracker represents the first successful endeavor to present a unified look at audience information at the publisher/network level. The Podcast Consumer Tracker also contains competitive intelligence, audience demographics, and sales targeting information for podcast publishers and networks.

The Podcast Consumer Tracker from Edison currently has 10 charter subscribers, including NPR, PodcastOne, Wondery, ESPN, WarnerMedia, and other significant publishing and agency partners. The study is based on a continuous sampling of consumers who have listened to a podcast in the last week. Comparative rankings of publisher networks are available only to subscribers.

Among the findings of the first report:

• The Joe Rogan Experience is the leading podcast in terms of reach amongst weekly podcast consumers.
• There are significant content consumption differences between iPhone and Android users, rendering “Top Podcast” charts derived exclusively from users of either to be unrepresentative of total listening behavior.
• While the study tracks the relative reach of the top podcast networks, 54% of weekly podcast consumers have listened to an unaffiliated, independent podcast in the last week.

“This is the first study in the podcast space to tackle a universal measure of reach,” notes Edison SVP Tom Webster. “There are, of course, various charts of downloads that cover parts of the overall universe, but those either reflect only a portion of the podcast audience, or they only measure publishers that opt-in. The Podcast Consumer Tracker’s goal is a truly inclusive measure of the comparative penetration of the leading publishers and networks. In that, we have been highly successful.”

In addition to network reach statistics, the study also provides the only nationally representative look at the purchasing and consumption patterns of podcast listeners, content preferences, and advertising targeting information across a broad array of consumer goods and services.

Notable reactions to the premiere of the Podcast Consumer Tracker include the following:

“Understanding our audience and the exploding audio landscape is so important to us as we create new podcasts. Edison’s new Podcast Tracker is another great tool that helps us understand NPR’s impact with our listeners and in the podcast market overall.” – Anya Grundmann, SVP for Programming and Audience Development, NPR

“We have a lot of tools in the podcasting universe to give us download metrics, but this is really the only tool that gives us the complete picture of our reach in the U.S., and what our total audience really looks like.” – Hernan Lopez, Founder and CEO, Wondery

“Edison Research has provided valuable information for the podcast industry for years, and we’re thrilled to be a part of the Podcast Consumer Tracker to continue building our podcast business and deliver value to our clients.” – Tyler Moody V.P./G.M., WarnerMedia Podcast Network

“As the importance of the podcast medium grows to creators, consumers, and companies advertising in the space, ESPN is happy to help lead the effort that brings more knowledge to the marketplace.” – John Fitzgerald - V.P. Multimedia Sales, ESPN

Fielding is currently underway for the second quarterly report in the series, to be delivered in January 2020.