Where Your Listeners Actually Are
A new analysis of OP3 data by Cohort, covering 36 million downloads across 2,644 shows, confirms what most of us already suspected: 77% of downloads come through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Castbox. Another 12% flow through dedicated podcast apps like Overcast, Pocket Casts, and Podcast Addict. Nearly everything happens in those two buckets.
But the more useful finding is what the data says about your specific show.
Your genre predicts where your listeners are more reliably than almost anything else. Technology podcasts over-index about 3x on dedicated podcast apps. If you make a tech show, marketing spend on Overcast and Pocket Casts converts better than average. True crime flows almost entirely through Apple and Spotify, so platform promotion and editorial placement matter far more than chasing dedicated app audiences. Kids and health content over-indexes on smart speaker apps, which makes sense for hands-free, living-room listening.
One honest caveat, this data measures where downloads come from, not whether anyone stayed until the end.
Think Like Your Listener, Not Like Yourself
Last year I was placing an ad in Overcast for a client. None of the available categories were a clean fit for their show. But we knew one thing clearly: their audience skewed heavily female. So we placed the ad in True Crime. It worked very well.
That is an audience centric mindset in action. Not “where does our content belong?” but “where does our audience already live?”
at Signal Hill Insights wrote a piece recently that formalizes exactly this thinking, and it is worth your time. He argues that a content centric mindset can actually be a barrier to audience growth. Your listeners are complex and multi-dimensional. The true crime fan in your audience might only listen to one true crime podcast. Everything else they consume is comedy, society and culture, something else entirely. If you only market where your content category lives, you’re leaving a lot of stones unturned.
Gen Z Watches Podcasts More Than They Listen
Spotify has released its annual Culture Next report, and for podcasters the headline finding is worth sitting with. Among Gen Z on Spotify, video podcast streams grew 90% year over year. High schoolers watch 63% of their podcasts. They are not listening first and watching second. For this cohort, video is the default.
But here is the more nuanced finding. Gen Z podcast behavior splits into two modes: ritual and viral. Ritual means returning again and again to the same shows. Viral means tuning in to a buzzy episode from outside their normal rotation. High schoolers are the most viral-curious, with one in three streams going to a one-off episode they likely discovered through social. By early adulthood that flips, with 76% of streams going to shows they already know and trust.
What that means for you as a podcaster: the younger the potential listener, the more a single great episode can introduce them to your show. The older they get, the more your job is to become a habit.
Worth noting: the report measures streams, not time spent. Whether video listeners are staying as long as audio listeners is a question the data does not answer.
Podcasting just hit record highs
Edison Research’s Podcast Consumer 2026 (with SiriusXM Media) is out, and the headline is growth across the board. A few things worth knowing if you make podcasts:
58% of Americans 12+ are now monthly podcast consumers — an all-time high, or roughly 167 million people. Weekly listeners jumped to an estimated 130 million (up from 115 million last year), and the biggest gains came from the 55+ crowd, now at 44% monthly
Video is how people find podcasts, but audio is still how they consume them. Edison reports video "consumption" overtook audio in Q3 2025, and YouTube is now the top podcast service at 37%. But that measures who watches, not how much time they spend. Most listeners still put in far more hours with audio, often clicking in via a video thumbnail and then listening while doing something else. Don't read "video overtook audio" as a reason to go video-first. Video drives discovery, audio drives engagement
Listeners welcome AI behind the scenes — but not in front of the mic. Most are fine with creators using AI for research (69%) and brainstorming (69%), but only 25% approve of an AI-generated host voice. Authenticity still sells: 76% of weekly listeners took action after hearing a podcast ad
Podcasting’s Imperial vs. Metric Problem
Spotify has finally defined what a “play” is: 30 seconds of content, audio or video, once per user per session.
It’s the first win for the Alliance for Podcast Measurement, an industry effort to get every platform speaking the same measurement language. Because right now, podcasting has an imperial versus metric problem. Spotify counts a play one way. Apple counts anything over zero seconds, with no per-user limit. The IAB standard, which most hosting companies certify against, centers on downloads instead. Same episode, three different numbers, all wearing the same name.
If you are a creator, this probably feels technical, and honestly, it mostly is. But it matters more than it feels. Advertisers cannot confidently buy what the industry cannot consistently measure, and that affects how much money flows into podcasting overall.
For your own dashboard, the takeaway is simple. Never compare a play on one platform to a play on another. One is miles, the other is kilometers.
Other Stuff
It’s a beautiful day on YouTube… Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood is now an official channel
New podcast studios in Las Vegas (they’re popping up everywhere)