Top Podcast Tracking Services by Episode Share (October 2022)

This is an archived version, the current version is here.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 October 2022), 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 October, how many of them included one or more of these tracking services? Some episodes had as many as six 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.

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 17.69% of new episodes in October, growing 4.58% from last month.

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

  1. Spreaker 22.98%
  2. Megaphone 10.22%
  3. Omny Studio 8.47%
  4. Buzzsprout 8.24%
  5. Blubrry 6.99%
  6. Simplecast 5.06%
  7. Libsyn 3.71%
  8. RSS.com 3.22%
  9. Soundcloud 2.51%
  10. Futuri Media 2.22%

Individual Service Rankings

And now, the full list of individual podcast analytics services ordered by new episodes published during the month of October 2022.

1. Podtrac

Podtrac was found on 8.24% of new episodes in October, growing 9.45% from last month.

Of these, 22.56% had one other tracker, 11.68% had 2 other trackers, 2.03% had 3 other trackers, 0.55% had 4 other trackers, and 0.22% had 5 other trackers.

29.07% also included Chartable, 14.52% also included Podsights, 6.15% also included Adswizz, 1.93% also included Podcorn, 0.87% also included ArtsAI, 0.79% also included Podscribe, 0.60% also included Blubrry, 0.31% also included Gumball, 0.30% also included OP3, 0.19% also included Feedpress, 0.15% also included Claritas, 0.10% also included Backtracks, 0.09% also included Magellan AI, 0.05% also included Médiamétrie, 0.05% also included Veritonic, 0.04% also included AdBarker, 0.04% also included Zippycast, 0.01% also included Podder, 0.01% also included Podkite, <0.01% also included Firstory, and <0.01% also included Zencastr.

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

  1. Spreaker 48.42%
  2. Megaphone 14.80%
  3. Omny Studio 10.30%
  4. Soundcloud 2.98%
  5. Futuri Media 2.66%
  6. Libsyn 1.96%
  7. ART19 1.95%
  8. Nox Solutions 1.76%
  9. NPR 1.41%
  10. Simplecast 1.27%

Spotify (Chartable & Podsights)

At least one Spotify tracker was found on 5.95% of new episodes in October, growing 2.61% from last month.

Of these, 42.88% also included Podtrac, 5.63% also included Adswizz, 4.85% also included Podcorn, 1.60% also included ArtsAI, 1.22% also included Podscribe, 1.05% also included Firstory, 0.64% also included Gumball, 0.48% also included Blubrry, 0.47% also included OP3, 0.34% also included Claritas, 0.24% also included Magellan AI, 0.09% also included AdBarker, 0.07% also included Veritonic, 0.04% also included Zippycast, 0.03% also included Feedpress, 0.03% also included Podkite, 0.03% also included Podder, 0.03% also included Zencastr, and 0.02% also included Backtracks.

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

  1. Megaphone 25.74%
  2. Omny Studio 19.76%
  3. Libsyn 7.03%
  4. Simplecast 5.50%
  5. Buzzsprout 4.75%
  6. Spreaker 4.73%
  7. ART19 2.65%
  8. Transistor 2.61%
  9. Captivate 2.37%
  10. OnePlace.com 2.36%

2. Chartable by Spotify

Chartable was found on 5.48% of new episodes in October, growing 1.51% from last month.

Of these, 34.56% had one other tracker, 18.19% had 2 other trackers, 3.22% had 3 other trackers, 0.51% had 4 other trackers, and 0.33% had 5 other trackers.

43.74% also included Podtrac, 24.49% also included Podsights, 5.81% also included Adswizz, 4.42% also included Podcorn, 1.61% also included ArtsAI, 1.28% also included Podscribe, 1.14% also included Firstory, 0.42% also included Blubrry, 0.36% also included Claritas, 0.30% also included Gumball, 0.25% also included Magellan AI, 0.14% also included OP3, 0.09% also included AdBarker, 0.07% also included Veritonic, 0.04% also included Feedpress, 0.03% also included Podder, 0.03% also included Podkite, 0.02% also included Backtracks, 0.01% also included Zencastr, and <0.01% also included Zippycast.

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

  1. Megaphone 25.06%
  2. Omny Studio 19.09%
  3. Libsyn 7.40%
  4. Simplecast 5.31%
  5. Buzzsprout 5.04%
  6. Spreaker 5.01%
  7. ART19 2.84%
  8. OnePlace.com 2.57%
  9. Captivate 2.55%
  10. SoundOn 2.54%

3. Podcorn by Audacy/Entercom

Podcorn was found on 2.51% of new episodes in October, growing 2.55% from last month.

Of these, 10.38% had one other tracker, 2.37% had 2 other trackers, 0.79% had 3 other trackers, 0.71% had 4 other trackers, and 0.21% had 5 other trackers.

9.64% also included Chartable, 6.34% also included Podtrac, 2.70% also included Podsights, 1.00% also included Gumball, 0.97% also included OP3, 0.25% also included Blubrry, 0.16% also included Magellan AI, 0.09% also included AdBarker, 0.08% also included Backtracks, 0.05% also included Podkite, 0.05% also included Adswizz, 0.02% also included Zencastr, and 0.02% also included Podder.

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

  1. Buzzsprout 51.09%
  2. RSS.com 22.65%
  3. Libsyn 5.62%
  4. Podomatic 4.78%
  5. Podbean 3.67%
  6. Transistor 2.63%
  7. Captivate 2.48%
  8. Spreaker 2.42%
  9. Soundcloud 1.31%
  10. Simplecast 0.75%

4. Adswizz by Pandora

Adswizz was found on 2.35% of new episodes in October, growing 2.54% from last month.

Of these, 23.18% had one other tracker, 4.91% had 3 other trackers, 2.65% had 2 other trackers, 0.26% had 4 other trackers, and 0.07% had 5 other trackers.

21.58% also included Podtrac, 13.56% also included Chartable, 7.35% also included Podsights, 1.32% also included Blubrry, 0.43% also included ArtsAI, 0.22% also included Podscribe, 0.05% also included Claritas, 0.05% also included Podcorn, 0.02% also included Gumball, 0.01% also included Veritonic, 0.01% also included Feedpress, and <0.01% also included Podkite.

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

  1. Simplecast 29.32%
  2. Futuri Media 16.73%
  3. Omny Studio 11.58%
  4. StreamGuys 9.15%
  5. NRJ-Group 8.52%
  6. Europe 1 5.39%
  7. NPR 4.81%
  8. Nox Solutions 4.14%
  9. Empire Streaming 1.76%
  10. Il Sole 24 Ore 1.71%

5. Podsights by Spotify

Podsights was found on 1.81% of new episodes in October, growing 4.41% from last month.

Of these, 51.03% had 2 other trackers, 20.46% had one other tracker, 9.47% had 3 other trackers, 2.48% had 4 other trackers, and 1.00% had 5 other trackers.

73.93% also included Chartable, 65.96% also included Podtrac, 9.51% also included Adswizz, 4.18% also included ArtsAI, 3.74% also included Podcorn, 3.18% also included Podscribe, 1.92% also included Gumball, 1.34% also included OP3, 0.97% also included Claritas, 0.39% also included Blubrry, 0.34% also included Magellan AI, 0.12% also included Zippycast, 0.09% also included Zencastr, 0.07% also included Veritonic, 0.04% also included Podkite, 0.02% also included Podder, 0.01% also included Backtracks, and 0.01% also included AdBarker.

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

  1. Megaphone 42.92%
  2. Omny Studio 28.61%
  3. Nox Solutions 6.55%
  4. Simplecast 5.06%
  5. ART19 4.15%
  6. Transistor 3.01%
  7. Audioboom 2.31%
  8. Libsyn 1.66%
  9. WNYC 1.13%
  10. Spreaker 0.91%

6. Blubrry

Blubrry was found on 1.61% of new episodes in October, growing 7.70% from last month.

Of these, 6.07% had one other tracker, 0.77% had 2 other trackers, 0.15% had 3 other trackers, 0.02% had 4 other trackers, and 0.01% had 5 other trackers.

3.10% also included Podtrac, 1.93% also included Adswizz, 1.44% also included Chartable, 0.86% also included Feedpress, 0.44% also included Podsights, 0.39% also included Podcorn, 0.02% also included Zencastr, 0.01% also included AdBarker, 0.01% also included OP3, and <0.01% also included Podscribe.

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

  1. Blubrry 76.96%
  2. Amazon S3 4.24%
  3. Libsyn 2.35%
  4. Soundcloud 1.90%
  5. Internet Archive 1.45%
  6. Squarespace 1.18%
  7. Empire Streaming 1.14%
  8. Amazon CloudFront 1.13%
  9. Muslim Central 0.97%
  10. Spreaker 0.87%

7. Médiamétrie

Médiamétrie was found on 0.50% of new episodes in October, shrinking 2.43% from last month.

Of these, 0.84% had one other tracker.

0.84% also included Podtrac.

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

  1. Audiomeans 37.15%
  2. Radio France Internationale 35.72%
  3. RCF 10.98%
  4. Ausha 9.49%
  5. Monte Carlo Doualiya 5.83%
  6. Akamai CDN 0.48%

8. Feedpress

Feedpress was found on 0.18% of new episodes in October, shrinking 12.77% from last month.

Of these, 15.39% had one other tracker, and 0.99% had 2 other trackers.

8.62% also included Podtrac, 7.54% also included Blubrry, 1.12% also included Chartable, and 0.10% also included Adswizz.

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

  1. Feedpress 66.78%
  2. Spreaker 10.70%
  3. NPR 4.63%
  4. Libsyn 4.28%
  5. Blubrry 3.26%
  6. Podbean 1.92%
  7. iVoox 1.31%
  8. Anchor 1.02%
  9. Fireside 0.99%
  10. Subsplash 0.86%

9. ArtsAI

ArtsAI was found on 0.10% of new episodes in October, growing 4.73% from last month.

Of these, 29.96% had 3 other trackers, 23.76% had 2 other trackers, 22.22% had 4 other trackers, 12.88% had 5 other trackers, and 7.21% had one other tracker.

88.89% also included Chartable, 76.36% also included Podsights, 72.64% also included Podtrac, 35.58% also included Podscribe, 13.59% also included Claritas, 10.11% also included Adswizz, and 0.77% also included Veritonic.

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

  1. Omny Studio 41.49%
  2. Megaphone 32.39%
  3. Audioboom 14.30%
  4. Simplecast 7.62%
  5. Nox Solutions 3.72%
  6. Fireside 0.47%

10. Firstory

Firstory was found on 0.09% of new episodes in October, shrinking 5.07% from last month.

Of these, 65.41% had one other tracker, and 0.25% had 2 other trackers.

65.66% also included Chartable, and 0.25% also included Podtrac.

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

  1. SoundOn 99.50%
  2. Soundcloud 0.50%

11. Podscribe

Podscribe was found on 0.07% of new episodes in October, growing 279.98% from last month.

Of these, 34.16% had 4 other trackers, 29.86% had 3 other trackers, 16.72% had 5 other trackers, 12.26% had 2 other trackers, and 5.41% had one other tracker.

95.14% also included Chartable, 88.38% also included Podtrac, 78.26% also included Podsights, 47.93% also included ArtsAI, 18.87% also included Claritas, 7.01% also included Adswizz, 4.06% also included Veritonic, and 0.08% also included Blubrry.

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

  1. Megaphone 47.13%
  2. Omny Studio 44.19%
  3. Nox Solutions 7.64%
  4. Libsyn 0.40%
  5. Simplecast 0.40%
  6. Audioboom 0.24%

12. Gumball

Gumball was found on 0.04% of new episodes in October, growing 141.06% from last month.

Of these, 38.83% had 4 other trackers, 24.60% had 2 other trackers, 10.64% had 5 other trackers, 9.57% had one other tracker, and 7.45% had 3 other trackers.

79.12% also included Podsights, 58.78% also included Podtrac, 57.05% also included Podcorn, 55.19% also included OP3, 37.77% also included Chartable, 1.20% also included Adswizz, and 0.53% also included Podkite.

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

  1. Transistor 57.98%
  2. Omny Studio 20.08%
  3. ART19 11.57%
  4. Megaphone 5.72%
  5. Spreaker 2.79%
  6. Simplecast 1.86%

13. OP3 (the Open Podcast Prefix Project)

OP3 was found on 0.03% of new episodes in October, growing 943.00% from last month.

Of these, 51.14% had 4 other trackers, 14.01% had 5 other trackers, 8.41% had 3 other trackers, 8.06% had 2 other trackers, and 2.10% had one other tracker.

74.96% also included Podtrac, 72.85% also included Podsights, 72.68% also included Gumball, 72.33% also included Podcorn, 23.47% also included Chartable, 0.70% also included Podkite, 0.70% also included Podder, and 0.35% also included Blubrry.

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

  1. Transistor 83.01%
  2. Podnews 7.36%
  3. Captivate 1.05%
  4. DigitalOcean Spaces 0.53%
  5. Buzzsprout 0.35%
  6. PodServe.fm 0.35%
  7. Simplecast 0.35%
  8. iVoox 0.18%

14. Zippycast

Zippycast was found on 0.02% of new episodes in October, growing 8.91% from last month.

Of these, 9.60% had 2 other trackers, and 4.55% had one other tracker.

13.13% also included Podtrac, 9.60% also included Podsights, and 1.01% also included Chartable.

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

  1. Podigee 35.35%
  2. Ausha 21.21%
  3. ART19 17.17%
  4. Megaphone 17.17%
  5. Podcastics 7.07%
  6. podCloud 2.02%

15. Claritas

Claritas was found on 0.02% of new episodes in October, growing 122.17% from last month.

Of these, 52.79% had 5 other trackers, 19.55% had 2 other trackers, 18.44% had 3 other trackers, 2.79% had 4 other trackers, and 1.68% had one other tracker.

93.58% also included Chartable, 83.52% also included Podsights, 66.20% also included Podscribe, 64.25% also included ArtsAI, 58.10% also included Podtrac, and 5.59% also included Adswizz.

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

  1. Omny Studio 89.39%
  2. Nox Solutions 5.31%
  3. ART19 5.31%

16. Magellan AI

Magellan AI was found on 0.02% of new episodes in October, shrinking 11.88% from last month.

Of these, 48.98% had 2 other trackers, 26.19% had one other tracker, and 20.07% had 3 other trackers.

80.61% also included Chartable, 44.56% also included Podtrac, 36.05% also included Podsights, and 23.13% also included Podcorn.

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

  1. Spreaker 44.56%
  2. Megaphone 30.95%
  3. ART19 18.03%
  4. Buzzsprout 4.42%
  5. Omny Studio 2.04%

17. Backtracks

Backtracks was found on 0.01% of new episodes in October, growing 6.73% from last month.

Of these, 57.08% had one other tracker, 12.83% had 2 other trackers, and 1.77% had 4 other trackers.

65.04% also included Podtrac, 15.04% also included Podcorn, 7.96% also included Chartable, and 1.77% also included Podsights.

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

  1. StreamGuys 46.46%
  2. Spreaker 15.04%
  3. Anchor 13.72%
  4. Transistor 4.42%
  5. Captivate 3.54%
  6. Subsplash 2.21%
  7. Voice of America English News 0.88%
  8. Squarespace 0.88%
  9. Buzzsprout 0.88%
  10. Megaphone 0.44%

18. Podkite

Podkite was found on 0.01% of new episodes in October, growing 41.34% from last month.

Of these, 19.86% had one other tracker, 6.16% had 5 other trackers, 2.05% had 2 other trackers, 0.68% had 3 other trackers, and 0.68% had 4 other trackers.

17.81% also included Chartable, 13.70% also included Podcorn, 10.96% also included Podtrac, 7.53% also included Podsights, 3.42% also included Podder, 2.74% also included OP3, 2.74% also included Gumball, and 0.68% also included Adswizz.

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

  1. Megaphone 29.45%
  2. Buzzsprout 23.29%
  3. Transistor 17.81%
  4. Audioboom 6.16%
  5. Podbean 6.16%
  6. Omny Studio 3.42%
  7. Podtrac 2.05%
  8. RSS.com 2.05%
  9. ART19 1.37%
  10. Spreaker 1.37%

19. AdBarker

AdBarker was found on 0.01% of new episodes in October, shrinking 3.19% from last month.

Of these, 66.39% had 2 other trackers, 10.08% had one other tracker, and 3.36% had 5 other trackers.

73.95% also included Chartable, 47.06% also included Podtrac, 31.93% also included Podcorn, 3.36% also included Blubrry, and 3.36% also included Podsights.

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

  1. Libsyn 37.82%
  2. Buzzsprout 34.45%
  3. Captivate 15.13%
  4. AdBarker 4.20%
  5. Megaphone 4.20%
  6. Simplecast 4.20%

20. Zencastr

Zencastr was found on 0.01% of new episodes in October, growing 99.10% from last month.

Of these, 9.17% had 2 other trackers, 8.26% had one other tracker, 4.59% had 3 other trackers, and 3.67% had 4 other trackers.

25.69% also included Podsights, 12.84% also included Chartable, 8.26% also included Podcorn, 4.59% also included Blubrry, and 3.67% also included Podtrac.

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

  1. Megaphone 71.56%
  2. Buzzsprout 13.76%
  3. Blubrry 4.59%
  4. Omny Studio 3.67%
  5. Simplecast 3.67%
  6. Podbean 1.83%
  7. Podcast.co 0.92%

21. Veritonic

Veritonic was found on <0.01% of new episodes in October, shrinking 9.73% from last month.

Of these, 62.32% had 3 other trackers, 18.84% had 5 other trackers, 11.59% had 2 other trackers, and 7.25% had 4 other trackers.

100.00% also included Podtrac, 100.00% also included Chartable, 73.91% also included Podscribe, 33.33% also included Podsights, 18.84% also included ArtsAI, and 7.25% also included Adswizz.

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

  1. Omny Studio 73.91%
  2. Nox Solutions 26.09%

22. Podder

Podder was found on <0.01% of new episodes in October, growing 16.57% from last month.

Of these, 25.42% had one other tracker, 15.25% had 2 other trackers, 8.47% had 5 other trackers, and 6.78% had 3 other trackers.

49.15% also included Chartable, 33.90% also included Podtrac, 11.86% also included Podcorn, 8.47% also included Podkite, 8.47% also included Podsights, and 6.78% also included OP3.

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

  1. Transistor 40.68%
  2. Sounder 18.64%
  3. Megaphone 16.95%
  4. ART19 8.47%
  5. Spreaker 5.08%
  6. Omny Studio 5.08%
  7. Simplecast 3.39%
  8. Buzzsprout 1.69%

Analysis by John Spurlock

Thanks to the Podcast Index for crawling every podcast, and giving us a signal of when to check for new episodes.

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 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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