ESPN’s Podcast Audience Continues to Grow

In June, ESPN Podcasts experienced 42.7 million downloads, the eighth month in the last nine with a total of 40 million or more. The number represents a 31% increase over June 2019.

According to The Podtrac Podcast Category Audience Rankings, in the Sports Podcast category ESPN has 11 of the top 30 podcasts, more than twice as many as any other publisher. The rankings are available for each of the 19 Apple Podcasts categories and include the top 30 podcasts in each category by Unique Monthly Audience; measurement is voluntary. With 1,025,870 listeners in June The Dan LeBatard Show is the third ranked podcast in the sports category and up +12% over last month as measured by Unique Monthly Audience.

The imminent return of sports following the shutdown in March helped drive the results. Of note, original podcast content enjoyed a 65% increase in downloads year-over-year, with 17.1 million. Among ESPN’s strongest performers were Jalen & Jacoby, The Lowe Post (NBA) and Bomani Jones’ The Right Time.

ESPN’s unique podcast audience is verified by Podtrac and download totals by Rawvoice.