The Australian Podcast Ranker for April, released today, shows downloads of the top 100 podcasts hit a new average weekly high of 5.5 million in the month, up 14 per cent on the previous result, while the All-Australian Top 100 list reached 3.9 million average weekly downloads, up 10 per cent.
For the first time, the April ranker includes shows from the American podcast network Wondery, NBC News and independent Australian publisher Wavelength Creative.
Wondery produced the Joe Exotic: Tiger King podcast that inspired the Netflix series and also features The Dollop, a long-running history and comedy podcast from ATC. Australian sales representation for Wondery and NBC News is provided by Ranieri & Co.
Wavelength Creative has also joined the ranker, with their Saving Apollo 13 podcast, about the spacecraft that failed en route to the moon, debuting on the All-Australian Top 100.
“Australians are enjoying a wide variety of podcasts while in lockdown, with comedy, self-education, radio catch-up and sports-oriented podcasts performing strongly, despite virtually no sport being played,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia.
Australian radio show catch-up podcasts accounted for 11 of the ranker’s top 20 most downloaded and listened to podcasts in the All-Australian list.
The Australian Podcast Ranker was launched in October to increase awareness and advertising revenue for the sector, by providing advertisers with independent, comparative data on podcast performance.
A report by Deloitte released in February predicted Australian podcasting revenue would see double-digit growth through 2020 as consumers, creators, brands and media buyers become more familiar with the medium.
The Australian Podcast Ranker is published monthly by Triton Digital in accordance with IAB Tech Lab’s Podcast Measurement Guidelines. The results of the April ranker will be released at 9.30am AEST today and will be published here.
