Podtrac has released its December podcast and publishers rankings, and the numbers show iHeartMedia remains the top podcast distributor by a wide margin.
The company features more than 250 million streams and downloads globally, with 29.8 million coming from the United States. The next closest publisher is Wondery, which sees an audience of 18.4 million in the US. NPR finished close behind Wondery, with 18.1 million listeners.
Despite finishing near the top of the list, NPR produces drastically fewer podcasts than both iHeartMedia and Wondery. Currently, iHeart has a whopping 870 active shows, while Wondery features 232. In comparison, NPR only produces 49 active podcasts, according to Podtrac.
The New York Times (12 shows) and NBC News (78 shows) round out the top five spots on the publisher’s list.
There was a change at the top of the individual podcast audience rankings, as NPR News Now jumped three places to claim the number one slot. The Daily from The New York Times finished second, while Up First (NPR), Dateline NBC (NBC News), and Morbid (Wondery).
