Today Apple published updates on a variety of services’ 2025 performance, and one of the most surprising details for me involved Apple Podcasts.
Apple Podcasts celebrates ‘best year yet’ in 2025 despite strong competition from YouTube and Spotify
2025 was Apple Podcasts’ best year yet, achieving record listeners, plays, and subscribers.
Just a few years ago, Apple Podcasts was the lone dominant player in the podcast space.
iTunes was where podcasts first thrived. The very name “podcast” was even inspired by Apple’s iPod.
Yet in the last couple years, major competitors like YouTube and Spotify have eaten a huge chunk of the podcast market. Video podcasts have been a huge driver of podcasting growth, with companies like Netflix now throwing money into podcasting.
Because of these changes, Apple Podcasts seems like more of a niche player than ever.
And yet, Apple says 2025 was its best year ever, with “record listeners, plays, and subscribers.”
The most natural explanation is that despite Apple losing marketshare, the market overall has grown significantly.
In other words, Apple Podcasts may own a much smaller piece of the podcasting pie than it did before, but that pie is now huge—and getting bigger all the time.
Apple Podcasts still does little to optimize for video podcasts, though hopefully that will change soon. Even as recently as iOS 26.2, Apple launched some great new features for the Podcasts app. Maybe a larger video overhaul is coming too.
Are you surprised by the big year Apple Podcasts had in 2025? Let us know in the comments.
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