What is Happening?

Spotify has passed Apple Podcasts (the consistently most-used podcast app) in monthly podcast downloads.

Total podcast downloads have increased by 33.4% in six months, from 63.8m in October 2020 to 85.2m in March 2021.

And it's not just more podcast content from existing creators that is driving the growth. The number of active podcasts on Spotify also grew 21.6%.

Insights:

• ✅ Spotify increased from 15.6m monthly downloads in October to 25.1m in March.

• ❌Apple Podcasts has decreased from 30.0m downloads in October to 25.0m.

• 🌏 Spotify and Apple Podcasts dominate the market. Combined, they represented almost 60% of all traffic in March, equal to 50.0m downloads.

• 💔 The podcast market has also become more fragmented. Smaller apps that each record less than 3% of all downloads now account for 41.2% of all downloads, up from 28.6% in October.

What Does it Mean?

It sure looks like Spotify's move into podcasting was a good one!

Digital audio continues to grow. 1/3 of US consumers say Spotify is their most-used online audio platform.

💡 Podcasts offer brands an opportunity to access hard-to-reach audiences that are highly engaged. This is true for B2B marketers as well. With 2020 seeing greater experimentation with channels that brands have never used before.