With the 2025 federal election on the horizon and political debate ramping up across the country, Australians are turning to news podcasts in droves – pushing daily bulletins, political explainers and youth-driven journalism to new heights in the latest Triton Digital Australian Podcast Ranker.
From legacy publishers to digital-native disruptors, news content dominated the podcasting airwaves across March. The trend, not too dissimilar to what we saw across the United States last year, is signalling a sharp shift in listening habits as voters seek clarity and credibility on demand as the podcast election hits Australian shores.
Election Fuels News Content
ABC News Top Stories claimed second place overall, just behind The Mel Robbins Podcast, clocking over 1 million monthly listeners and a staggering 2.8 million downloads from 406 episodes — the highest episode count in the Top 10. The podcast also took the top spot among the Australian-made podcasts for the second consecutive month.
Also from the national broadcaster, ABC News Daily rose to 9th with 416,295 monthly listeners and over 1.1 million downloads, reflecting Australians’ appetite for reliable, daily updates as election discourse intensifies.
Youth-focused powerhouse The Daily Aus, meanwhile, climbed back to 20th, drawing 294,157 listeners across 49 episodes.
It’s not just the ABC and The Daily Aus riding the news wave. Sky News Australia Update continues to hold its ground at #12 with 381,845 listeners and 723,031 downloads, releasing 91 episodes over the month.
Squiz Today, a weekday news wrap, made a notable leap to 16th overall, up 20 places, with over 328,000 listeners. Similarly, Politics Now, a more in-depth policy podcast from the ABC, surged 10 places to #37, boasting 210,759 monthly listeners across 27 episodes — a jump that suggests voters are not just chasing headlines, but looking for deeper analysis.
ARN Holds Top Spot
From a network perspective, ARN’s iHeart retained its #1 spot as Australia’s top podcast publisher, with 4.6 million monthly listeners and over 14 million downloads.
“With more Australians listening than ever before, iHeart’s record results reflect the power of combining world-class storytelling with unrivalled scale. From global hits like Stalked to the most loved local titles, we’re delivering premium audio experiences that cut through – creating enormous opportunity not just for brands looking to connect with engaged audiences, but for ARN as Australia’s podcasting powerhouse,” said ARN’s head of digital audio, Corey Layton.
Meanwhile, the ABC led in total downloads (22.6 million), largely due to its sprawling catalogue of daily and weekly news shows.
Coming in at third was Southern Cross Austereo’s LiSTNR Network, which had more podcasts in the top 10 than any other podcast network – The Mel Robbins Podcast, Hamish & Andy, It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield and The Imperfects.
“The March Triton Top 200 Australian Podcast Ranker has set new records for LiSTNR,” said Grant Tothill, SCA’s executive head LiSTNR Audience and Growth.
“Firstly, LiSTNR retained its position as the number one Sales Representation Network, with 9,353,203 monthly listeners — the highest audience ever recorded on the Australian Ranker. This result underscores LiSTNR’s continued leadership in the commercial podcast marketplace, driven by its strategic investment into known audiences and advanced AdTech solutions, which currently account for 60% of all podcast advertising campaigns.
“Secondly, The Mel Robbins Podcast — published by SiriusXM in the US and represented by LiSTNR in Australia — was again the number one podcast, with 1,865,687 monthly listeners. This eclipsed last month’s audience and set a new single podcast listening benchmark on the Australian Ranker.
“While Australian-created podcasts remain a key focus, this result demonstrates that audiences are choosing a combination of both international and locally created content to meet their podcast needs,” Tothill concluded.
