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International Podcast Day: Apple touts top subscriptions as data shows it’s still the dominant platform

To celebrate International Podcast Day and the Apple Podcasts Subscriptions service, the company released the Top Subscriptions shows and Top Free Channels ever since the Podcasts subscription started three months ago.

According to Apple, here are the Top Subscriptions and Top Free Channels listeners worldwide have been engaging with over the first three months of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions service from June 15 through September 15:


Top Subscriptions Podcasts

1. Wondery+ from Wondery
2. Luminary from Luminary
3. Sword and Scale +PLUS Light from Incongruity
4. TenderfootPlus+ from Tenderfoot TV
5. PushNik from Pushkin Industries
6. QCODE+ from QCODE
7. Imperative Premium Series from Imperative Entertainment
8. Podimo Deutschland from Podimo
9. U Up? from Betches Media
10. The Handoff from CNN

Top Free Channels Podcasts

1. The New York Times
2. audiochuck
3. iHeartPodcast Network
4. Barstool Sports
5. Dateline NBC
6. ABC News
7. TED Audio Collective
8. ESPN
9. Crooked Media
10. Ramble

Apple says that the Top Free Channels chart is ranked in order of total listeners worldwide over the past three months for shows united under each channel and does not include any fully paid or “freemium” channels in the Podcasts app. Top Subscriptions Podcasts is ranked in order of total subscribed listeners worldwide over the past three months and includes both channels and individual shows.

Apple Podcasts measures listeners as the number of unique devices that have played more than 0 seconds of an episode.

Apple Podcasts Subscriptions and channels launched just a few months ago and already listeners around the world are enjoying spectacular new shows and exclusive benefits from a variety of incredible creators such as Wondery, Luminary, and now Marvel Entertainment” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “Together we are writing the next chapter of podcasting — helping hundreds of millions of listeners find inspiration, connection, and joy while building robust and sustainable businesses with creators worldwide.

Listeners can find Top Shows and Top Episodes on the Apple Podcasts Charts here.

9to5Mac readers familiar with our weekly 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast (co-hosted by Benjamin Mayo and Zac Hall) can find our ad-free, higher-quality version of each episode for $4.99/month or $49.99/year.

Apple Podcasts still the most important podcast platform

Last week, an analysis by eMarketer showed that Spotify was close to globally overtaking Apple Podcasts in numbers of users. Now, in honor of International Podcast Day, OmnyStudio has published new data that shows Apple Podcasts still dominates the market. For context, OmnyStudio served over 4 billion downloads in more than 80 countries around the world in the past year.

In its analysis, OmnyStudio reveals that the US still holds the top spot of the country in which more people are listening to podcasts, with almost 60% of all global downloads since Podcast Day 2020. The US is followed by Australia, Canada, and Brazil, the latter of which raised its podcast consumption by 286%.

According to the report, News (22%) and Comedy (21%) are the most important categories for listeners. Not only that, OmnyStudio says Apple Podcasts still dominates with 54.93% of downloads of all the platforms. It had a 1.51% growth. Spotify lies second with only a 13.58% share of downloads, but it has grown 99.2% since Podcast Day 2020.

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The report also shows that the favorite device for listening to podcasts is the mobile phone (88.85%) followed by desktop (4.46%), and smart speakers (5.25%).

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