Podtrac Industry Rankers

Podtrac has been measuring podcasts for over twenty years, and at this point its monthly Industry Rankings are the closest thing podcasting has to a Billboard chart. The rankings are split into Top US Publishers, Top Multi-Channel Podcasts, and country-level breakdowns, all based on unique US monthly audience for shows that have installed the Podtrac measurement prefix.

Inclusion is free, and a publisher needs at least 30 days of data before Podtrac will rank them. What you do with that ranking is the real value. Trade outlets like Inside Radio, Podnews and Variety pull straight from Podtrac when they write about the state of the industry, so a top-tier slot is something you can cite in sponsor decks, investor updates, and PR.

The flip side: the top ten is essentially the same set of major networks every month, so unless you're at NPR scale you're competing for positions further down the list. Podtrac also occasionally adjusts its methodology, particularly around what counts as a podcast in an era of YouTube simulcasts, which can reshuffle rankings unexpectedly.

For your day-to-day numbers you'll still want hosting analytics or a tool like Chartable or Podscribe. Where Podtrac earns its keep is the external credibility marker. If your show clears the threshold to chart, that fact alone tends to open doors that bare download numbers don't.