ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia has released new podcast listener data for February with leading podcast technology provider Megaphone, showing strong year-on-year growth across the platform since launch.
In the 12 months since launch, downloads have more than doubled, with the average weekly downloads in February 2021 up 111% compared to the same time last year.
Already this year, 1.2 million Australian devices have been used to download iHeartPodcast content – a record number for the platform.
All podcast categories on the network have shown an overall upward growth across the past 12 months.
Business & Finance podcasts are the fastest growing category with a staggering 407% growth in the past year. The start of this growth coincided with the height of the pandemic in Australia but has remained strong as people continue to seek information to help navigate challenging financial times.
The top five most popular genres are Entertainment & Lifestyle (up 20% YOY), followed by Catchup Radio (up 81% YOY), Comedy (up 93% YOY), News (up 52% YOY) and Music (up 80% YOY).
ARN’s Head of Digital Audio, Corey Layton says, “The iHeartPodcast Network Australia has had an incredible 12 months – holding the title of Australia’s #1 Podcast Publisher* since launch, showing phenomenal growth. From day one, our mission has been to connect the best local and global creators with audiences and to create deeply integrated and measurable brand campaigns. Our leading-edge data and growth across the platform shows we are delivering what audiences and brands want – and we’re just getting started.”
Chief Commercial Officer Pete Whitehead says, “With the success of the iHeartPodcast Network, ARN continues to expand its commercial offering with the most compelling content partnerships on a platform that has seen exceptional audience growth in the past year. We will continue to expand the iHeartPodcast Network’s diverse content offering and deliver the very best integrated commercial partnership opportunities for clients with our market-leading comprehensive audio offering.”
Figure 2: All categories continue to show overall upward growth trend over past 12 months. Top 5 genres are: Entertainment, Catchup Radio, Comedy, News, and Music
*Source: Triton Digital’s Australian Podcast Ranker (Jan 2020 – Jan 2021) of the participating publishers.
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