Podcast Industry Statistics

Comprehensive data and trends across the global podcast ecosystem.

Last updated: April 14, 2026

3.2M Podcasts Indexed

With 898.8K actively publishing (28.0% active rate)

Peak Growth in 2020

802.8K new podcasts launched that year

English Dominates

Representing 59.2% of all podcasts globally

Society & Culture Most Popular

551.3K podcasts in this category

Total Podcasts 3,206,473

Active 898,842 updated in last year

Total Episodes 145,911,015

Avg Episodes 45.5 per podcast

Key Insights

Our database indexes 3,206,473 podcasts with 145,911,015 episodes. 898,842 podcasts (28.0%) are actively publishing.

Podcast creation peaked in 2020 with 802,769 new shows. In 2026, 124,836 new podcasts have launched so far.

English dominates with 59.2% of all podcasts, followed by Spanish and Portuguese.

Growth Trends

The podcast boom peaked in 2020 (802,769 new shows). Recent years have stabilized around 259,122 new podcasts annually.

Annual New Podcasts

Monthly New Podcasts (Last 12 Months)

Monthly Episode Releases (Last 12 Months)

Content Distribution

Top 5 languages account for 83.2% of all podcasts. The three most popular categories (Society & Culture, Education, Business) represent 45.8% of content.

By Language

View All →

By Category

View All →

Publishing Patterns

Weekly is the most common schedule (304,282 podcasts). 56.7% of podcasts have only 1-10 episodes. Most episodes are 0-15 min long.

Update Frequency

Episodes per Podcast

Average Episode Duration

Apple Podcasts Ratings

2,818,363 podcasts

Only 10.2% of Apple Podcasts have received ratings. 26,732 podcasts have 100+ ratings, indicating strong listener engagement.

10.2%

Have Ratings

115,276

With 10+ Ratings

26,732

With 100+ Ratings

106.9

Avg. Rating Count

Podcasts by Rating Count

Podcast Features

9.0% of podcasts feature guests, 3.4% have sponsors. Video podcasts remain niche at 0.8%.

With Sponsors 3%

108,903

With Guests 9%

289,326

Video Podcasts 1%

26,478

Explicit 13%

417,301

Podcasting 2.0

9.6% use 3+ features

9.6% of podcasts use 3+ Podcasting 2.0 features. Top tags: 'medium' (93,392) and 'license' (68,627).

Hosting Platforms

anchor.fm dominates with 51.1% market share, followed by www.spreaker.com (10.4%).

Browse by Language

Explore podcast statistics across 10+ languages. Find regional trends and top shows.

English Spanish Portuguese Indonesian German

Browse by Category

Discover podcast data across 10+ categories. From education to entertainment.

Society & Culture Education Business Arts Religion & Spirituality