The latest Australian Podcast Ranker has LiSTNR‘s Hamish and Andy back at No 1, a position they held for most of last year, and nearly 5 million Australians consuming news podcasts. Of additional note, the ABC‘s Mushroom Case Daily has been placed under true crime but could equally be considered a ‘news’ podcast, adding another half million to that tally.

Getting toward the pointy end of NRL and AFL seasons saw sports listening surge, up to 3.7 million monthly listeners. Dan Does Footy nearly cracked the top 10 and the catch up radio SEN Breakfast also made the top 20 with more than 600,000 monthly listeners between them.

ARN will be very pleased to see a return to the top 10 for the Kyle and Jackie O catch up podcast, and more than a million monthly downloads. Whether that further reflects in live listening audience will be seen when GfK Survey 5 is released on Tuesday September 9.

Mamamia Out Loud returned to the top three. At the start of August Mamamia founder Mia Freedman announced she was taking long service leave and a break from the podcast and it will be interesting to see the impact of that next month.

All up there were six news podcasts in the top 20, the ABC represented twice. I would expect mushroom cook related podcasts to drop out of the top of the ranker in August as other news items take precedence.

ARN’s iHeart had seven million listeners in July and 24.7 million downloads across the month. LiSTNR had five in the top 20 including Hamish and Andy. Acast also featured in their sales representation of No 20’s Australian True Crime. They represent a great many of Australia’s top podcasts including Toni and Ryan. This is likely because of publisher Bravecasting but I also hope it may be a toe dip in the ranker water themselves as it would make more a broader 200 with their publisher presence.