Slice Research
Original data on podcasting and the creator economy, free to use and cite. Every figure has its source and its date.
7 reports15 free data filesUpdated
We count things, so you don’t have to.
41.8minutes is how long the median episode from a top-charting podcast runs (State of Podcasting 2026)
Featured report
Original research
Every podcast in the open Podcast Index, counted: how many are alive, where they quit, video, automation and names.
4.4 million podcasts in the open Podcast Index, once duplicates, mirrors and test feeds are removed. 413,475 published in the last 90 days.
Original research
How long top podcasts run, how often they publish and when they come out, from the public RSS feeds of Apple’s top charts.
Open data
Salaries and freelance rates for editors, designers, writers and podcasters, every figure sourced.
Reference
Sizes, lengths, file limits and measured safe zones for twelve formats, each with its source.
Original research
Sizes, formats, colours and text, measured with our cover art checker.
Original research
US Census, BLS and UK figures on self-employed artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers.
Sourced round-up
The most-cited figures, each with its source, its date and the range where sources disagree.
The big reports, broken down: one page for each state, category, platform, language or host with enough data to say something.
Our own analyses are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Credit “Slice (tryslicemedia.com)” and link to the report.
Source: Slice (tryslicemedia.com), The Podcast Census 2026.
Where a page gathers other people’s figures, as the creator economy statistics and the official pay data do, cite the original source as well. Every figure links to it.
Every report has its method, sources, dates and limits on the page. We re-run the reports as new data comes out, and each page says when it was last updated.
Questions about a figure, a custom cut of the data or an interview: email us.
Stat cards for social posts are on each report, ready to download.
One free email every Friday: tools for creators and the best advice we found from people who make things.
Shorts by Slice
Shorts finds the best moments in a long episode and cuts them into captioned vertical clips for TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Try Shorts free