Podscribe's January 2026 Podcast Industry Rankings: New Year Shifts in Top Shows, Publisher Performance and Audio Ad Spend
The January 2026 rankings highlight notable shifts across top shows, publishers and advertisers, reflecting an evolving listener behavior and advertising strategy changes in podcast investment at the start of the year. These rankings reflect data between January 1st through January 31st, 2026.
Podcast Show Highlights
- Crime Junkie claims the #1 spot in audio reach (9.7M, 45% increase), overtaking The Daily, which moves to #2 despite posting a slight increase in reach (7.6M, 3% increase).
- Crooked Media’s Pod Save America enters the Top 10 at #10 in audio reach.
- The Joe Rogan Experience and The Oprah Podcast once again take the top two spots for downloads and views per episode, maintaining their ranking order.
- Smosh Reads Reddit Stories jumps ahead of Candace, increasing downloads and views per episode by 8% to 3.0M, while Candace drops 8% to 2.9M.
- Bulwark Takes from Audioboom breaks into the rankings, securing the #10 spot in monthly downloads and views after a 57% month-over-month increase.
Publisher Highlights
- Red Seat Ventures (home to Crime Junkie, The Megyn Kelly Show, and The Tucker Carlson Show) was the only top-ten publisher to post growth in audio reach.
- Nine of the top ten publishers experienced a decline in audio reach in January.
- The same ten publishers retained their positions for monthly downloads and views, signaling stability despite reach fluctuations.
- MeidasTouch and Acast swapped the #2 and #3 spots.
- Libsyn Ads made a significant jump, moving from #8 to #5 in monthly downloads and views.
Advertisers Highlights:
- Progressive Insurance, Rocket, and DraftKings enter the rankings for January 2026.
- BetterHelp returns to the #1 spot, reaching $6.8M in estimated ad spend, a 6% increase month over month.
- Quince climbs from #4 to #2 in estimated ad spend, followed by Mint Mobile, which rises from #5 to #4.
Aura Frames, The Coca-Cola Company, and Liberty Mutual exit the top ten after heavy December spending, suggesting seasonal investment patterns.
About Podscribe
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This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.