Podcast Downloads Down Drastically in April

This is an archived page from 2019. Find out more

Is this a blip or a trend? These stats are from Podtrac which has had issues with accuracy in the past. If you believe the Podtrac charts, streams and downloads from March to April were down drastically across the board for every company in the top ten. However, unique audience numbers are up.

It’s two months in a row at number one for NPR and its 55 shows, which was 6 more shows than what Podtrac reported NPR had in March. Even with six additional shows Podtrac is reporting that total downloads for NPR in April were 143.3 million, that’s down drastically from March which was reported at 175.2 million. NPR’s unique monthly audience was up, from 18.7 million in march to 19.3 million in April.

iHeartRadio was again second on the Podtrac chart. In March Podtrac reported iHeart checked in with 170 shows. In April 165 shows are on the chart. Once again downloads were down drastically, according to Podtrac. In March iHeart reportedly had 164.7 million downloads and in April that number was 124 million. Unique audience increased from 17.5 million to 18.5 million.

Rounding out the top five for April were PRX, Wondery and _The New York Time_s with Wondery jumping over The New York Times in the top five for April.

The April chart is below and you can check out the March chart HERE

Comments:

Todd Cochrane - May 2, 2019

The question really is one of wondering if Podtrac is making adjustments to stats to become IAB Certified. If you will notice Voxnest, Art19, Whooska all have become certified and they all started the process around the same time.

Thanks Todd. It would be nice if Podtrac mentioned that in their releases if that is indeed the case.