EDISON RESEARCH LAUNCHES “PODCAST CONSUMER TRACKER” (PCT) AND “TOP TEN PODCASTS” CHART

Yesterday we reviewed a new Top Podcast chart that, at best, might be called "amateurish."

Today we have the real deal. Edison Research [link] has launched a Top Ten Podcasts ranker chart.   

It is part of Edison’s Podcast Consumer Tracker (PCT), a subscription service that Edison began in June 2019.

Here is Edison’s Top Ten:

1. The Joe Rogan Experience

2. This American Life

3. The Daily

4. My Favorite Murder

5. Crime Junkie

6. Stuff You Should Know

7. Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

8. Serial

9. Pod Save America

10. Radiolab

 Most of the shows on the debut chart are familiar. Some of the shows on list are not listed on Podtrac charts. Four of the ten shows are published by organizations with ties to public media. The data is from respondents who say they listen to at least one podcast per week.

Edison’s Top Ten will be released quarterly. It is based on a continuous sample of over 4,000 individuals, age 18 and over. Edison claims that PCT is the only comprehensive and all-inclusive ongoing study that includes all publishers and shows in America.

The sample is derived, in part, from respondents that have participated in The Infinite Dial, a research series from Edison and Triton Digital.  

But, The Top Ten chart is the only part of PCT that is available to the public. The rest of the data is available only to paying customers. The cost is $10,000 per quarter per customer.

Edison’s press release says NPR, Wondery, WarnerMedia and ESPN have already subscribed.

Subscribers to PCT will find current stats of the reach and the level of awareness for individual shows and publishers. They will also get access to what Edison describes “the only nationally representative look at the purchasing and consumption patterns of podcast listeners, content preferences, and advertising targeting information across a broad array of consumer goods and services.”

Tom Webster

Tom Webster, Senior VP of Edison says the company has been active in the podcast space for more than a decade 

However they waited until now to release a Top Ten chart:

“Podcast listening is still fairly fragmented, and it wasn’t until we had this large a sample {that we felt was right to proceed].

"We felt it would be responsible to even put out a top ten, let alone a longer list.”

For information about subscribing, click here.