Top Podcast Tracking Services by Episode Share (December 2023)

This is an archived version, the current version is here.

Now that we have a good idea of which podcast hosts are producing new podcast episodes, let’s turn our attention to third-party podcast analytics services.

These services are typically provided by a company that is not the podcast host, but can provide tracking and analytics by being specified as the underlying media file url, which then redirects back to the host. Sometimes, these services are implemented as custom prefixes (taking the original media url and adding a prefix to it), but not always.

By intercepting every episode media file request, these analytics services can provide a view that is potentially larger than what the underlying podcast host analytics can provide.

Podtrac, one of the most popular services, released some interesting data about their US download figures for September 2021.

But how representative of the entire podcast world is this data? How many podcasters use services like these?

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We already did the work of analyzing every single new podcast episode published (about 1.7 million in December 2023), identifying which podcast hosting company it belongs to.

We used the actual media file url (past any tracking redirects) to identify the host instead of the feed url domain, which can often undercount hosts that offer custom domains.

Let’s now take a look at the tracking services themselves. Of the new episodes that were published in December, how many of them included one or more of these tracking services? Some episodes had as many as ten of these redirecting trackers!

Note we can only observe “client-side” trackers. There are other podcast analytics services such as Triton Digital that receive private request logs directly from partner hosts. Like first-party podcast host analytics, the reach of these services is not measurable in a public way, and thus not included in this analysis.

A special note for September/October 2023

We now have a better signal of when Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor) podcasts release new episodes, so our crawlers are finding more, starting mid-September.

October was the first full month where this new signal was incorporated for the entire month, so should be a good baseline going forward. It’s likely that we were undercounting S4P prior to this, in general our goal is to observe and validate every change to every podcast.

Higher share of new episodes on S4P (which typically do not have prefixes) leads to lower share overall for all prefixes over these two months, but should be stable going forward now that we have a more accurate baseline.

First, a quick chart of the top podcast tracking services over time, based on share of new episodes every month.

Overall

At least one tracker was found on 15.66% of new episodes in December, shrinking 0.43% from last month.

For episodes that used at least one tracker, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Spreaker 20.51%
  2. Megaphone 16.05%
  3. Omny Studio 9.56%
  4. Simplecast 5.78%
  5. Blubrry 3.75%
  6. Libsyn 3.65%
  7. RSS.com 3.09%
  8. Buzzsprout 2.67%
  9. Soundcloud 1.96%
  10. Futuri Media 1.94%

Individual Service Rankings

And now, the full list of individual podcast analytics services ordered by new episodes published during the month of December 2023.

1. Podtrac

Podtrac was found on 7.48% of new episodes in December, shrinking 2.30% from last month.

Of these, 23.53% had one other tracker, 12.31% had 2 other trackers, 2.72% had 3 other trackers, 1.61% had 4 other trackers, 0.72% had 5 other trackers, 0.56% had 6 other trackers, 0.14% had 7 other trackers, 0.01% had 8 other trackers, and <0.01% had 9 other trackers.

32.83% also included Chartable, 18.19% also included Podsights, 4.26% also included Podscribe, 4.26% also included Adswizz, 2.04% also included Magellan AI, 1.66% also included Podcorn, 1.34% also included Podder, 1.11% also included ArtsAI, 0.86% also included OP3, 0.78% also included Claritas, 0.74% also included Podroll, 0.62% also included Gumshoe, 0.62% also included Veritonic, 0.53% also included Spotify, 0.51% also included Blubrry, 0.11% also included Audiotakes, 0.10% also included Voxalyze, 0.09% also included Feedpress, 0.03% also included Médiamétrie, 0.03% also included Zencastr, 0.01% also included Podkite, 0.01% also included AdBarker, 0.01% also included Glystn, 0.01% also included CoHost Prefix, and <0.01% also included Firstory.

For episodes that used Podtrac, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Spreaker 41.89%
  2. Megaphone 20.50%
  3. Omny Studio 11.65%
  4. Libsyn 2.77%
  5. Soundcloud 2.50%
  6. Futuri Media 2.23%
  7. ART19 1.92%
  8. Simplecast 1.77%
  9. NPR 1.28%
  10. Transistor 1.26%

Spotify (Chartable, Podsights, and Ad Analytics)

At least one Spotify tracker was found on 6.22% of new episodes in December, shrinking 1.31% from last month.

Of these, 43.94% also included Podtrac, 7.09% also included Podscribe, 5.49% also included Adswizz, 3.68% also included Magellan AI, 2.35% also included Podcorn, 2.10% also included Podder, 1.86% also included ArtsAI, 1.63% also included Claritas, 1.39% also included Podroll, 1.15% also included Gumshoe, 0.92% also included Firstory, 0.90% also included OP3, 0.86% also included Veritonic, 0.54% also included Audiotakes, 0.31% also included Blubrry, 0.28% also included Voxalyze, 0.08% also included Zencastr, 0.08% also included Feedpress, 0.06% also included AdBarker, 0.03% also included Podkite, 0.01% also included Glystn, and 0.01% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used at least one Spotify tracker, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 34.50%
  2. Omny Studio 20.34%
  3. Libsyn 5.33%
  4. Simplecast 5.28%
  5. Buzzsprout 4.26%
  6. Spreaker 4.02%
  7. Transistor 2.76%
  8. ART19 2.70%
  9. SoundOn 2.53%
  10. Captivate 2.25%

2. Chartable by Spotify

Chartable was found on 5.60% of new episodes in December, growing 0.19% from last month.

Of these, 34.45% had one other tracker, 17.46% had 2 other trackers, 4.10% had 3 other trackers, 2.44% had 4 other trackers, 0.79% had 5 other trackers, 0.75% had 6 other trackers, 0.16% had 7 other trackers, 0.01% had 8 other trackers, and <0.01% had 9 other trackers.

43.81% also included Podtrac, 28.71% also included Podsights, 5.79% also included Podscribe, 5.16% also included Adswizz, 3.44% also included Magellan AI, 2.11% also included Podcorn, 2.09% also included Podder, 1.61% also included ArtsAI, 1.43% also included Claritas, 1.38% also included Podroll, 1.36% also included Spotify, 1.02% also included Firstory, 0.78% also included Gumshoe, 0.77% also included Veritonic, 0.56% also included OP3, 0.30% also included Voxalyze, 0.27% also included Audiotakes, 0.26% also included Blubrry, 0.08% also included Feedpress, 0.08% also included Zencastr, 0.06% also included AdBarker, 0.03% also included Podkite, 0.01% also included Glystn, and 0.01% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used Chartable, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 33.71%
  2. Omny Studio 19.43%
  3. Libsyn 5.54%
  4. Simplecast 5.21%
  5. Buzzsprout 4.60%
  6. Spreaker 4.25%
  7. SoundOn 2.81%
  8. ART19 2.67%
  9. Transistor 2.57%
  10. Captivate 2.47%

3. Adswizz by Pandora

Adswizz was found on 2.20% of new episodes in December, shrinking 2.15% from last month.

Of these, 19.57% had one other tracker, 3.04% had 2 other trackers, 2.63% had 3 other trackers, 0.53% had 6 other trackers, 0.49% had 4 other trackers, 0.38% had 5 other trackers, and 0.25% had 7 other trackers.

14.46% also included Podtrac, 13.14% also included Chartable, 5.66% also included Podsights, 1.77% also included Blubrry, 1.45% also included Podscribe, 1.34% also included Audiotakes, 1.02% also included ArtsAI, 0.96% also included Claritas, 0.79% also included Podroll, 0.64% also included Veritonic, 0.38% also included Spotify, 0.29% also included Magellan AI, 0.22% also included OP3, 0.13% also included Podcorn, 0.06% also included Podder, 0.04% also included Gumshoe, and 0.02% also included Zencastr.

For episodes that used Adswizz, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Simplecast 34.49%
  2. Futuri Media 13.81%
  3. StreamGuys 10.91%
  4. SoundStack 9.02%
  5. NRJ-Group 7.43%
  6. Podigee 6.17%
  7. Omny Studio 5.55%
  8. Il Sole 24 Ore 1.42%
  9. Julep Hosting 1.38%
  10. Nox Solutions 1.35%

4. Podsights by Spotify

Podsights was found on 2.19% of new episodes in December, shrinking 5.76% from last month.

Of these, 38.16% had 2 other trackers, 31.15% had one other tracker, 9.67% had 3 other trackers, 6.91% had 4 other trackers, 2.82% had 5 other trackers, 1.92% had 6 other trackers, 0.42% had 7 other trackers, 0.02% had 8 other trackers, and 0.01% had 9 other trackers.

73.31% also included Chartable, 61.97% also included Podtrac, 16.30% also included Podscribe, 9.21% also included Magellan AI, 5.68% also included Adswizz, 4.54% also included Podder, 4.27% also included ArtsAI, 3.62% also included Claritas, 2.32% also included Gumshoe, 2.25% also included Podcorn, 2.14% also included Veritonic, 2.14% also included Podroll, 1.62% also included Spotify, 1.49% also included OP3, 1.33% also included Audiotakes, 0.31% also included Voxalyze, 0.24% also included Blubrry, 0.10% also included Feedpress, 0.03% also included Zencastr, 0.02% also included Podkite, 0.02% also included Glystn, and 0.01% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used Podsights, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 58.39%
  2. Omny Studio 23.55%
  3. ART19 3.75%
  4. Simplecast 3.34%
  5. Transistor 2.01%
  6. Audioboom 1.76%
  7. Libsyn 1.50%
  8. Spreaker 1.21%
  9. Nox Solutions 0.97%
  10. RedCircle 0.90%

5. Blubrry

Blubrry was found on 1.53% of new episodes in December, growing 5.60% from last month.

Of these, 6.38% had one other tracker, 0.56% had 2 other trackers, 0.06% had 3 other trackers, 0.05% had 4 other trackers, and <0.01% had 6 other trackers.

2.55% also included Adswizz, 2.48% also included Podtrac, 1.03% also included Feedpress, 0.96% also included Chartable, 0.34% also included Podsights, 0.23% also included Podcorn, 0.12% also included Podscribe, 0.06% also included OP3, 0.05% also included Podroll, 0.03% also included Podder, 0.01% also included Claritas, 0.01% also included Gumshoe, <0.01% also included Voxalyze, <0.01% also included Audiotakes, <0.01% also included Magellan AI, <0.01% also included ArtsAI, and <0.01% also included Veritonic.

For episodes that used Blubrry, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Blubrry 38.39%
  2. Voice of America English News 8.27%
  3. OnePlace.com 7.36%
  4. Amazon S3 3.03%
  5. Libsyn 2.18%
  6. Muslim Central 1.54%
  7. Soundcloud 1.50%
  8. SoundStack 1.26%
  9. Internet Archive 1.20%
  10. iVoox 0.92%

6. Podcorn by Audacy/Entercom

Podcorn was found on 1.12% of new episodes in December, shrinking 1.81% from last month.

Of these, 10.86% had one other tracker, 3.75% had 2 other trackers, 1.41% had 5 other trackers, 1.34% had 4 other trackers, 1.07% had 3 other trackers, 0.18% had 6 other trackers, 0.12% had 7 other trackers, 0.04% had 8 other trackers, and 0.02% had 9 other trackers.

11.07% also included Podtrac, 10.55% also included Chartable, 4.42% also included Podsights, 3.14% also included Gumshoe, 2.83% also included OP3, 1.65% also included Podscribe, 0.78% also included Voxalyze, 0.63% also included Podder, 0.31% also included Blubrry, 0.31% also included Podroll, 0.25% also included Adswizz, 0.13% also included Spotify, 0.09% also included Feedpress, 0.07% also included Zencastr, 0.06% also included Podkite, 0.05% also included Magellan AI, 0.03% also included AdBarker, and 0.01% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used Podcorn, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. RSS.com 42.57%
  2. Buzzsprout 12.23%
  3. Podomatic 12.06%
  4. Libsyn 8.38%
  5. Podbean 5.29%
  6. Transistor 4.71%
  7. Spreaker 3.68%
  8. Captivate 3.46%
  9. Soundcloud 1.57%
  10. Simplecast 1.20%

7. Podscribe

Podscribe was found on 0.54% of new episodes in December, growing 14.74% from last month.

Of these, 21.48% had one other tracker, 20.64% had 4 other trackers, 18.73% had 3 other trackers, 14.00% had 2 other trackers, 9.54% had 5 other trackers, 8.14% had 6 other trackers, 1.91% had 7 other trackers, and 0.03% had 9 other trackers.

65.77% also included Podsights, 59.61% also included Chartable, 58.61% also included Podtrac, 30.51% also included Magellan AI, 16.56% also included Claritas, 16.17% also included ArtsAI, 10.83% also included Spotify, 8.49% also included Veritonic, 6.09% also included Audiotakes, 5.86% also included Adswizz, 4.97% also included Gumshoe, 4.79% also included Podder, 3.78% also included Podroll, 3.39% also included Podcorn, 2.68% also included OP3, 0.34% also included Blubrry, and 0.03% also included Voxalyze.

For episodes that used Podscribe, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 55.15%
  2. Omny Studio 9.73%
  3. Audioboom 7.96%
  4. Libsyn 6.38%
  5. Spreaker 4.72%
  6. Simplecast 4.07%
  7. ART19 3.11%
  8. Transistor 2.75%
  9. Nox Solutions 2.13%
  10. Buzzsprout 1.07%

8. Médiamétrie

Médiamétrie was found on 0.33% of new episodes in December, growing 0.35% from last month.

Of these, 0.65% had one other tracker.

0.65% also included Podtrac.

For episodes that used Médiamétrie, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Radio France Internationale 53.16%
  2. RCF 18.23%
  3. Monte Carlo Doualiya 10.55%
  4. SoundCast 8.29%
  5. Audiomeans 3.91%
  6. Ausha 3.35%
  7. Akamai CDN 1.54%

9. Magellan AI

Magellan AI was found on 0.24% of new episodes in December, growing 19.26% from last month.

Of these, 43.16% had 4 other trackers, 14.69% had 3 other trackers, 14.39% had 5 other trackers, 11.27% had 6 other trackers, 8.79% had 2 other trackers, 3.99% had one other tracker, and 2.81% had 7 other trackers.

85.34% also included Podsights, 81.32% also included Chartable, 70.10% also included Podscribe, 64.40% also included Podtrac, 22.29% also included Claritas, 20.34% also included Podder, 16.65% also included ArtsAI, 11.42% also included Veritonic, 9.34% also included Podroll, 8.74% also included Spotify, 3.29% also included Audiotakes, 2.71% also included Adswizz, 1.31% also included Gumshoe, 0.25% also included Podcorn, and 0.03% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Magellan AI, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 74.19%
  2. Omny Studio 7.43%
  3. Libsyn 5.90%
  4. ART19 5.60%
  5. Spreaker 3.26%
  6. Simplecast 2.31%
  7. SoundStack 0.75%
  8. Buzzsprout 0.20%
  9. Substack 0.13%
  10. LiveWriters 0.13%

10. Podder

Podder was found on 0.16% of new episodes in December, growing 1.83% from last month.

Of these, 22.15% had 3 other trackers, 18.22% had 4 other trackers, 15.40% had 2 other trackers, 12.45% had one other tracker, 11.72% had 5 other trackers, 1.80% had 6 other trackers, 0.97% had 7 other trackers, 0.29% had 8 other trackers, and 0.11% had 9 other trackers.

71.03% also included Chartable, 60.82% also included Podtrac, 60.50% also included Podsights, 29.22% also included Magellan AI, 15.80% also included Podscribe, 8.08% also included Podroll, 4.29% also included Podcorn, 3.17% also included Claritas, 2.89% also included OP3, 2.06% also included Gumshoe, 1.52% also included ArtsAI, 0.76% also included Adswizz, 0.76% also included Veritonic, 0.47% also included Voxalyze, 0.29% also included Spotify, 0.25% also included Blubrry, 0.14% also included Podkite, and 0.07% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used Podder, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 70.09%
  2. Transistor 7.54%
  3. Omny Studio 5.66%
  4. Buzzsprout 4.00%
  5. Captivate 3.68%
  6. ART19 3.57%
  7. Simplecast 1.41%
  8. Spreaker 1.23%
  9. Podbean 0.83%
  10. PodOps 0.58%

11. Feedpress

Feedpress was found on 0.16% of new episodes in December, shrinking 2.01% from last month.

Of these, 15.84% had one other tracker, 1.31% had 2 other trackers, and 0.11% had 3 other trackers.

9.67% also included Blubrry, 4.25% also included Podtrac, 2.80% also included Chartable, 1.31% also included Podsights, 0.62% also included Podcorn, and 0.15% also included OP3.

For episodes that used Feedpress, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Feedpress 48.76%
  2. Libsyn 8.79%
  3. 95bFM 6.83%
  4. NPR 4.58%
  5. Spreaker 4.47%
  6. Blubrry 3.34%
  7. Podbean 2.29%
  8. Spotify for Podcasters 2.29%
  9. RSS.com 1.89%
  10. Megaphone 1.74%

12. Podroll

Podroll was found on 0.12% of new episodes in December, shrinking 0.80% from last month.

Of these, 19.53% had 3 other trackers, 19.38% had 2 other trackers, 18.45% had 4 other trackers, 11.61% had one other tracker, 3.84% had 5 other trackers, 1.92% had 7 other trackers, 1.43% had 6 other trackers, 0.39% had 8 other trackers, and 0.15% had 9 other trackers.

64.04% also included Chartable, 45.65% also included Podtrac, 38.81% also included Podsights, 18.30% also included Magellan AI, 17.02% also included Podscribe, 14.41% also included Adswizz, 11.02% also included Podder, 4.03% also included Gumshoe, 3.49% also included Claritas, 2.95% also included OP3, 2.85% also included Podcorn, 2.71% also included Voxalyze, 1.43% also included ArtsAI, 0.79% also included Spotify, 0.69% also included Blubrry, and 0.20% also included CoHost Prefix.

For episodes that used Podroll, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 42.65%
  2. Spreaker 17.81%
  3. Omny Studio 11.41%
  4. Simplecast 11.31%
  5. PRX 5.41%
  6. Podbean 3.59%
  7. Transistor 1.72%
  8. ART19 1.52%
  9. Nox Solutions 1.52%
  10. Buzzsprout 1.18%

13. ArtsAI

ArtsAI was found on 0.12% of new episodes in December, shrinking 0.62% from last month.

Of these, 27.56% had 6 other trackers, 19.12% had 3 other trackers, 15.69% had 4 other trackers, 15.49% had 2 other trackers, 11.97% had 5 other trackers, 6.95% had 7 other trackers, and 2.38% had one other tracker.

78.30% also included Podsights, 75.37% also included Chartable, 73.49% also included Podscribe, 69.27% also included Podtrac, 32.92% also included Magellan AI, 30.34% also included Claritas, 26.07% also included Veritonic, 18.77% also included Adswizz, 10.33% also included Spotify, 7.30% also included Audiotakes, 2.09% also included Podder, 1.59% also included Gumshoe, 1.44% also included Podroll, and 0.05% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used ArtsAI, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 31.88%
  2. Omny Studio 22.29%
  3. Audioboom 13.60%
  4. Simplecast 9.43%
  5. Nox Solutions 8.79%
  6. ART19 8.64%
  7. Libsyn 2.28%
  8. SoundStack 1.39%
  9. Spreaker 1.09%
  10. Fireside 0.20%

14. Spotify Ad Analytics

Spotify was found on 0.12% of new episodes in December, growing 10.42% from last month.

Of these, 27.31% had one other tracker, 25.65% had 2 other trackers, 22.79% had 3 other trackers, 9.96% had 4 other trackers, 4.07% had 6 other trackers, 4.02% had 7 other trackers, and 2.57% had 5 other trackers.

64.29% also included Chartable, 49.85% also included Podscribe, 33.50% also included Podtrac, 30.08% also included Podsights, 17.51% also included Magellan AI, 16.95% also included Claritas, 11.07% also included Gumshoe, 10.46% also included ArtsAI, 7.14% also included Adswizz, 4.28% also included Audiotakes, 3.12% also included Veritonic, 1.56% also included OP3, 1.26% also included Podcorn, 0.80% also included Podroll, and 0.40% also included Podder.

For episodes that used Spotify, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 28.17%
  2. ART19 19.77%
  3. Omny Studio 13.13%
  4. Spreaker 9.81%
  5. Simplecast 6.39%
  6. Libsyn 6.14%
  7. Zencastr 5.33%
  8. Audioboom 4.48%
  9. Buzzsprout 3.52%
  10. WNYC 1.36%

15. OP3 (the Open Podcast Prefix Project)

OP3 was found on 0.11% of new episodes in December, shrinking 10.97% from last month.

Of these, 26.79% had one other tracker, 13.66% had 5 other trackers, 13.19% had 2 other trackers, 11.11% had 4 other trackers, 3.84% had 3 other trackers, 1.66% had 6 other trackers, 0.42% had 8 other trackers, 0.36% had 7 other trackers, and 0.16% had 9 other trackers.

56.28% also included Podtrac, 28.50% also included Podsights, 27.67% also included Podcorn, 27.47% also included Chartable, 25.96% also included Gumshoe, 12.72% also included Podscribe, 4.15% also included Adswizz, 4.15% also included Podder, 3.12% also included Podroll, 2.02% also included Voxalyze, 1.61% also included Spotify, 0.78% also included Blubrry, and 0.21% also included Feedpress.

For episodes that used OP3, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Transistor 38.32%
  2. Houston Public Media 13.66%
  3. Spreaker 5.61%
  4. Captivate 3.53%
  5. LetsCast.fm 3.27%
  6. Megaphone 3.17%
  7. Buzzsprout 3.12%
  8. Simplecast 3.12%
  9. Podbean 2.60%
  10. Podnews 2.08%

16. Claritas

Claritas was found on 0.11% of new episodes in December, shrinking 2.38% from last month.

Of these, 26.59% had 4 other trackers, 19.35% had 6 other trackers, 17.65% had 5 other trackers, 14.64% had 3 other trackers, 7.89% had 7 other trackers, 7.24% had 2 other trackers, and 4.66% had one other tracker.

83.06% also included Podscribe, 73.90% also included Chartable, 73.30% also included Podsights, 54.00% also included Podtrac, 48.68% also included Magellan AI, 33.50% also included ArtsAI, 19.41% also included Adswizz, 18.48% also included Spotify, 15.63% also included Veritonic, 4.82% also included Podder, 3.89% also included Podroll, 0.22% also included Gumshoe, and 0.16% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Claritas, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 42.16%
  2. Omny Studio 22.09%
  3. Simplecast 13.38%
  4. ART19 9.27%
  5. Nox Solutions 7.68%
  6. Libsyn 3.45%
  7. SoundStack 1.54%
  8. Spreaker 0.27%
  9. Blubrry 0.16%

17. Gumshoe

Gumshoe was found on 0.09% of new episodes in December, shrinking 10.81% from last month.

Of these, 19.57% had 4 other trackers, 18.48% had 5 other trackers, 18.14% had 2 other trackers, 13.34% had 3 other trackers, 10.97% had one other tracker, 4.27% had 6 other trackers, 1.69% had 7 other trackers, 0.54% had 8 other trackers, and 0.20% had 9 other trackers.

57.96% also included Podsights, 52.81% also included Podtrac, 49.83% also included Chartable, 40.08% also included Podcorn, 33.85% also included OP3, 30.81% also included Podscribe, 14.90% also included Spotify, 5.55% also included Podroll, 3.86% also included Podder, 3.52% also included Magellan AI, 3.39% also included Audiotakes, 2.17% also included ArtsAI, 1.22% also included Voxalyze, 1.02% also included Adswizz, 0.27% also included Claritas, 0.20% also included Veritonic, and 0.14% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Gumshoe, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Transistor 34.39%
  2. Megaphone 30.47%
  3. ART19 23.90%
  4. Spreaker 6.77%
  5. Simplecast 1.35%
  6. RedCircle 1.15%
  7. Podbean 0.61%
  8. LiveWriters 0.34%
  9. Omny Studio 0.27%
  10. Libsyn 0.27%

18. Firstory

Firstory was found on 0.08% of new episodes in December, growing 6.00% from last month.

Of these, 68.77% had one other tracker, and 0.21% had 2 other trackers.

68.98% also included Chartable, and 0.21% also included Podtrac.

For episodes that used Firstory, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. SoundOn 99.57%
  2. Soundcloud 0.43%

19. Audiotakes

Audiotakes was found on 0.06% of new episodes in December, growing 15.73% from last month.

Of these, 46.73% had one other tracker, 15.82% had 4 other trackers, 15.27% had 2 other trackers, 13.62% had 3 other trackers, 4.14% had 5 other trackers, 3.13% had 6 other trackers, and 0.18% had 7 other trackers.

51.24% also included Podscribe, 45.54% also included Adswizz, 45.17% also included Podsights, 23.55% also included Chartable, 13.52% also included ArtsAI, 12.60% also included Podtrac, 12.05% also included Magellan AI, 7.82% also included Spotify, 5.98% also included Veritonic, 4.60% also included Gumshoe, and 0.09% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Audiotakes, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Audioboom 22.82%
  2. Megaphone 17.30%
  3. Libsyn 8.74%
  4. Spreaker 3.86%
  5. Podcastbude 1.75%
  6. Nox Solutions 1.75%
  7. ART19 0.74%
  8. Simplecast 0.46%
  9. Captivate 0.28%
  10. Buzzsprout 0.18%

20. Veritonic

Veritonic was found on 0.06% of new episodes in December, shrinking 9.81% from last month.

Of these, 53.23% had 6 other trackers, 12.90% had 4 other trackers, 11.83% had 5 other trackers, 6.88% had 3 other trackers, 6.56% had 7 other trackers, 4.09% had 2 other trackers, and 3.55% had one other tracker.

84.95% also included Podsights, 83.66% also included Podtrac, 83.55% also included Podscribe, 78.49% also included Chartable, 56.45% also included ArtsAI, 48.92% also included Magellan AI, 30.65% also included Claritas, 25.38% also included Adswizz, 6.99% also included Audiotakes, 6.67% also included Spotify, 2.26% also included Podder, 0.32% also included Gumshoe, and 0.11% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Veritonic, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 52.80%
  2. Simplecast 23.12%
  3. Audioboom 13.01%
  4. Omny Studio 5.70%
  5. Nox Solutions 2.69%
  6. Libsyn 1.83%
  7. ART19 0.43%
  8. Buzzsprout 0.32%

21. Voxalyze

Voxalyze was found on 0.03% of new episodes in December, shrinking 1.44% from last month.

Of these, 26.40% had one other tracker, 20.81% had 2 other trackers, 13.87% had 3 other trackers, 5.78% had 4 other trackers, 1.54% had 8 other trackers, 0.77% had 6 other trackers, 0.58% had 9 other trackers, and 0.19% had 5 other trackers.

55.30% also included Chartable, 28.32% also included Podcorn, 25.24% also included Podtrac, 22.16% also included Podsights, 10.60% also included Podroll, 7.51% also included OP3, 3.47% also included Gumshoe, 2.50% also included Podder, 0.58% also included Podscribe, and 0.19% also included Blubrry.

For episodes that used Voxalyze, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 18.11%
  2. Buzzsprout 16.18%
  3. Captivate 15.61%
  4. Omny Studio 12.33%
  5. Spreaker 10.98%
  6. ART19 9.44%
  7. Transistor 8.67%
  8. Ausha 3.08%
  9. Audiomeans 1.35%
  10. Simplecast 0.96%

22. Zencastr

Zencastr was found on 0.01% of new episodes in December, shrinking 10.01% from last month.

Of these, 39.80% had one other tracker, 11.22% had 2 other trackers, and 2.04% had 3 other trackers.

36.73% also included Chartable, 16.33% also included Podtrac, 6.63% also included Podcorn, 5.61% also included Podsights, and 3.06% also included Adswizz.

For episodes that used Zencastr, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Zencastr 100.00%

23. Podkite

Podkite was found on 0.01% of new episodes in December, shrinking 2.47% from last month.

Of these, 33.88% had one other tracker, 3.31% had 2 other trackers, and 3.31% had 5 other trackers.

24.79% also included Chartable, 13.22% also included Podtrac, 9.09% also included Podcorn, 6.61% also included Podsights, and 3.31% also included Podder.

For episodes that used Podkite, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Buzzsprout 42.15%
  2. Podbean 12.40%
  3. Captivate 9.92%
  4. Transistor 8.26%
  5. Pinecast 6.61%
  6. Simplecast 5.79%
  7. Spreaker 4.13%
  8. Audioboom 3.31%
  9. Megaphone 3.31%
  10. Omny Studio 0.83%

24. AdBarker

AdBarker was found on 0.01% of new episodes in December, shrinking 4.51% from last month.

Of these, 50.00% had one other tracker, and 20.93% had 2 other trackers.

67.44% also included Chartable, 17.44% also included Podtrac, and 6.98% also included Podcorn.

For episodes that used AdBarker, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Buzzsprout 39.53%
  2. Captivate 19.77%
  3. AdBarker 15.12%
  4. Libsyn 13.95%
  5. RSS.com 5.81%
  6. Megaphone 3.49%
  7. Simplecast 2.33%

25. Zippycast

Zippycast was found on <0.01% of new episodes in December, growing 1.31% from last month.

For episodes that used Zippycast, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Ausha 81.48%
  2. Podigee 18.52%

26. Glystn

Glystn was found on <0.01% of new episodes in December, growing 0.44% from last month.

Of these, 66.67% had 3 other trackers, and 33.33% had one other tracker.

100.00% also included Chartable, 66.67% also included Podtrac, and 66.67% also included Podsights.

For episodes that used Glystn, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Megaphone 66.67%
  2. Simplecast 33.33%

27. CoHost Prefix

CoHost Prefix was found on <0.01% of new episodes in December, shrinking 0.26% from last month.

Of these, 90.91% had 3 other trackers.

90.91% also included Chartable, 72.73% also included Podtrac, 36.36% also included Podsights, 36.36% also included Podroll, 18.18% also included Podcorn, and 18.18% also included Podder.

For episodes that used CoHost Prefix, here are the top underlying podcast hosts:

  1. Transistor 36.36%
  2. Megaphone 36.36%
  3. CoHost 18.18%
  4. Simplecast 9.09%

Analysis by John Spurlock

Thanks to the Podcast Index and other sources, for giving us signals of when to check for new episodes in public podcasts.

And thanks to the Open Podcast Analytics Working Group for maintaining a list of media url patterns and analytics services patterns. We’ve incorporated these patterns along with some of our own to come up with the host and analytics service identification and metadata for this ranking.

Updated 2024-01-01, with data for the month of December 2023.

Updated 2023-12-03, with data for the month of November 2023.

Updated 2023-11-02, with data for the month of October 2023. Improved accuracy in observing Spotify for Podcasters podcasts: more S4P new episodes leads to lower share of prefixed episodes overall.

Updated 2023-10-01, with data for the month of September 2023. Improved accuracy in observing Spotify for Podcasters podcasts: more S4P new episodes leads to lower share of prefixed episodes overall.

Updated 2023-09-01, with data for the month of August 2023.

Updated 2023-08-01, with data for the month of July 2023.

Updated 2023-07-01, with data for the month of June 2023. Includes new Spotify Ad Analytics prefix launched in June.

Updated 2023-06-01, with data for the month of May 2023.

Updated 2023-05-04, with data for the month of April 2023.

Updated 2023-04-01, with data for the month of March 2023.

Updated 2023-03-01, with data for the month of February 2023.

Updated 2023-02-01, with data for the month of January 2023.

Updated 2023-01-01, with data for the month of December 2022.

Updated 2022-12-01, with data for the month of November 2022.

Updated 2022-11-02, with data for the month of October 2022.

Updated 2022-10-03, with data for the month of September 2022.

Updated 2022-09-01, with data for the month of August 2022.

Updated 2022-08-01, with data for the month of July 2022.

Updated 2022-07-01, with data for the month of June 2022.

Updated 2022-06-01, with data for the month of May 2022.

Updated 2022-05-01, with data for the month of April 2022.

Updated 2022-04-05, RSS Podcasting is now known as RSS.com.

Updated 2022-04-03, with data for the month of March 2022 and a new graph.

Updated 2022-03-03, with data for the month of February 2022, added AdBarker.

Updated 2022-02-19, added new overall breakdowns of how many new episodes use at least one tracker, and how many use at least one Spotify-owned tracker.

Updated 2022-02-08, with data for the month of January 2022.

Updated 2022-01-10, was missing data for December 31, now fixed.

Updated 2022-01-07, with data for the month of December 2021.

Updated 2021-12-04, with data for the month of November 2021.

Updated 2021-11-18, added Backtracks.

Updated 2021-11-14, with data for the month of October 2021.

Updated 2021-10-21: Added Adswizz and tweaked the host identification to choose the last known host in the redirect chain instead of the first, in an attempt to better capture customer-driven host migrations.

Updated 2021-10-14: Added a section about how direct server-to-server analytics integrations are not publically visible, and thus out of scope.

Updated 2021-10-13: Removed Podtrac as a host under itself, even when it is the last media file url in the redirect chain.

Previous versions:

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