In September 2026, iHeartMedia’s podcast sales network reached 57,562,000 unique monthly US listeners, more than three times NPR’s 18,011,000, and those two radio-born publishers held the top three places in Podtrac’s publisher ranking between them (Podtrac, Podcast Publisher Rankings September 2026). Radio has not lost the podcast race. It has become one of the biggest suppliers to it. iHeartMedia’s podcast revenue rose 20.7% to 162.1 million dollars in Q2 2026 while its broadcast radio revenue grew just 0.5% (iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results). Radio and podcasts together still hold 82% of daily ad-supported audio time in the US (Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026). We aggregated data from Podtrac, Triton Digital, Nielsen, Jacobs Media, iHeartMedia, Cumulus Media, SiriusXM, the BBC, NPR and RAJAR to measure how broadcasters repackage radio as podcasts and live streams. For the wider broadcast picture, see our radio industry statistics for 2026.
TL;DR
- iHeart Audience Network reached 57,562,000 unique monthly US podcast listeners in September 2026 (Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026).
- NPR’s sales network drew 93,738,000 monthly US downloads and streams from just 73 active shows (Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026).
- Among Americans aged 13 to 34, podcasts take 53% of spoken-word listening time vs 23% for AM/FM radio (Edison Research, Share of Ear March 2026).
- Radio and podcasts together hold 82% of daily ad-supported audio time in the US (Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026).
- Loyal listeners now spend 54% of time with their favorite station over the air and 44% on digital platforms (Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026).
- AM/FM streams reached an 8% audience share among adults 18+, ahead of ad-supported Spotify and Pandora at 5% each (Cumulus Media / Westwood One, Share of Ear analysis Q1 2025).
- iHeartMedia’s podcast revenue reached 162.1 million dollars in Q2 2026, up 20.7% (iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results).
- SiriusXM’s Pandora and Off-platform advertising, which includes podcasts, earned 419 million dollars in Q3 2026 against 37 million dollars for the satellite service (SiriusXM, Q3 2026 results).
- NPR reaches more than 46 million people a week across platforms, but only 21.2 million through its broadcast portfolio (NPR / National Public Media, Year in Review 2025).
- BBC on-demand radio programmes and podcasts were downloaded 231 million times on third-party platforms in Q1 2026 (BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release).
- In the UK, podcasts take 8% of audio listening hours against 64% for live radio (RAJAR, MIDAS Autumn 2025).
1. Radio Companies Own the Top of the Podcast Charts
The podcast charts look less like a disruption of radio than a second distribution pipe for it. iHeart’s sales network reached 57,562,000 unique monthly US listeners in September 2026, and NPR, a public-radio network, ranked third behind iHeart’s own studio arm. A “sales network” here means a company that sells advertising across shows it represents, not only shows it owns, so iHeart’s network figure includes partner podcasts alongside its own catalog. The full table is public in Podtrac’s September 2026 publisher ranking.
The efficiency gap is striking. NPR generated 93,738,000 downloads and streams from 73 active shows, about 1.28 million per show (93,738,000 / 73), while iHeartPodcasts spread 162,301,000 across 931 shows, about 174,000 per show (162,301,000 / 931). NPR runs a short list led by daily news programmes such as NPR News Now and Up First; iHeart runs a wide catalog. Both models put radio companies in the top three.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| iHeart Audience Network (sales network), US unique monthly audience, September 2026 | 57,562,000 listeners | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| iHeartPodcasts (own studio), US unique monthly audience and downloads plus streams | 31,960,000 listeners; 162,301,000 downloads and streams from 931 shows | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| NPR Sales Network, US unique monthly audience and downloads plus streams | 18,011,000 listeners; 93,738,000 downloads and streams from 73 shows | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| Public-radio producers WNYC Studios and PRX, US unique monthly audience | 2,787,000 (WNYC Studios) and 2,417,000 (PRX) | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| NPR News Now and Up First, positions in the US top 20 podcasts by unique monthly audience | Number 3 and number 4 | Podtrac, Podcast Rankings September 2026 |
| Average weekly downloads, February 2026: iHeart Audience Network vs Audioboom vs Cumulus Podcast Network | 70.8M vs 16.6M vs 3.6M | Triton Digital, US Podcast Ranker February 2026 |
| iHeart Audience Network average weekly downloads, September 2026 | 67.3 million | Triton Digital, US Podcast Ranker September 2026 |
| Shows in the US Top 50 (Q2 2026) whose listed publisher includes NPR, WNYC Studios, iHeartPodcasts or SiriusXM | 8 of 50 (16%) | Edison Research at SSRS, Top 50 Podcasts Q2 2026 (our count of the published list) |
Context: the publisher ranking above counts unique monthly listeners, while Triton Digital’s ranker counts average weekly downloads under version 2.2 of the IAB measurement guidelines, so the two cannot be added or compared directly. Both only include publishers that opt in. The Top 50 count comes from the publisher names in the Q2 2026 Top 50 list, which was built from 5,006 weekly podcast consumers aged 13 and older; it includes radio-born titles such as The Breakfast Club (number 11) and Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me (number 35).
2. The Spoken-Word Crossover: Where Podcasts Beat Talk Radio
The age data shows why broadcasters repackage talk shows as podcasts rather than simply waiting for listeners to come back. Among Americans aged 13 to 34, podcasts take 53% of spoken-word listening time, against 23% for AM/FM radio, according to Edison Research’s age breakdown. Over 55, the split flips. A radio talk show that is not also a podcast competes for less than a quarter of under-35 spoken-word time.
Ad-supported time tells a different story, because subscription music is excluded. Radio and podcasts together still hold more than four of every five ad-supported minutes in the US, and the biggest radio groups now sell both (see section 5 for what that does to their revenue).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spoken-word listening time, Americans 13 to 34: podcasts vs AM/FM radio | 53% vs 23% | Edison Research, Share of Ear March 2026 |
| Spoken-word listening time, Americans 55+: podcasts vs AM/FM radio | 22% vs 55% | Edison Research, Share of Ear March 2026 |
| Spoken-word listening time in 2015: AM/FM radio vs podcasts | 75% vs 10% | Edison Research, Share of Ear February 2026 |
| Radio plus podcasts, share of daily US ad-supported audio time | 82% | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
| Podcasts, share of daily US ad-supported audio time, adults 18+ | 20% | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
| Streaming music services, share of daily US ad-supported audio time | 16% | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
| News/Talk, share of all US radio listening, adults 18+ (largest format) | 10.9% (from 10.8% in Q4 2025) | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
Context: Nielsen counts AM/FM radio “both over-the-air and digital streaming” in its radio share, as stated in The Record Q1 2026. The 20% podcast figure is from TheDesk’s report on the same Nielsen release. The age figures cover video and audio-only podcasts and exclude other spoken-word sources such as SiriusXM and audiobooks.
3. Radio’s Own Audience Is Moving Online
The most loyal radio listeners are now nearly half digital. Core listeners spend 54% of their time with their favorite station over the air and 44% through digital platforms, according to Jacobs Media’s Techsurvey 2026, a survey of nearly 31,000 “P1” listeners (people who name a given station as the one they listen to most) across 506 commercial US stations, fielded from January 7 to February 8, 2026. In 2013 the split was 85% to 14%. Among Gen Z the lines have already crossed. Results are summarized in Radio Ink’s report on Techsurvey 2026.
The overlap data explains why stations promote podcasts on air: a large share of podcast listeners already listen to radio, and vice versa. That overlap figure, however, comes from 2023 and is the most recent published.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Time with favorite station, P1 listeners: broadcast vs digital platforms | 54% vs 44% (broadcast was 59% a year earlier) | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| Same split in 2013: broadcast vs digital | 85% vs 14% (a 71-point gap, now 10 points) | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| Gen Z P1 listeners: digital vs broadcast | 49% vs 48% | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| Millennial P1 listeners: broadcast vs digital | 52% vs 46% | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| AM/FM share of typical weekday in-car audio, P1 listeners: 2026 vs 2018 | 50% vs 62% (SiriusXM 20% in 2026) | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| Weekly AM/FM radio audience who listen to podcasts weekly / monthly / ever | 45% / 55% / 77% | Cumulus Media / Westwood One, citing Infinite Dial 2023 |
| Podcast audience who also listen to AM/FM radio | About two-thirds | Cumulus Media / Westwood One, citing Share of Ear Q2 2023 |
Most recent available data for the overlap rows: Edison Research Infinite Dial 2023 and Share of Ear Q2 2023, as presented in Westwood One’s podcast promotion deck. No 2025 or 2026 update of these overlap figures was published as of November 6, 2026.
4. Simulcast Streaming: The Same Show, a Second Pipe
A simulcast is the same live broadcast sent at the same time over the air and as an internet stream, through station apps, websites, aggregators and smart speakers. Streams now account for 14% of all daily time spent with AM/FM radio, and 30% of weekly radio listeners stream for at least part of their radio time, per Edison Research’s May 2026 analysis. The stream is where spoken word over-performs: news, talk and sports take a far larger share of streamed listening than of over-the-air listening, which makes streaming the natural bridge between a live talk show and its podcast version. For the studio infrastructure behind both versions, see our AoIP and AES67 broadcast migration statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Streamed AM/FM, share of all daily time spent with AM/FM radio, Q1 2026 | 14% | Edison Research, Share of Ear Q1 2026 |
| Weekly radio listeners who streamed for at least part of their radio time | 30% (estimated 19% two years earlier) | Edison Research, Infinite Dial 2026 |
| Audience share, adults 18+: AM/FM streams vs ad-supported Spotify vs ad-supported Pandora, Q1 2025 | 8% vs 5% vs 5% (AM/FM streams were 6% in 2017) | Cumulus Media / Westwood One, Share of Ear analysis Q1 2025 |
| News/Talk plus Sports, share of AM/FM streaming vs traditional listening, adults 25 to 54 | 28% vs 12% | Cumulus Media / Westwood One, Share of Ear analysis Q1 2025 |
| Australians aged 25 to 54 live-streaming radio: 2026 vs 2022 | 35% vs 18% | Commercial Radio & Audio, Infinite Dial Australia 2026 |
Context: the 14% figure measures share of listening time, while the 30% figure measures share of listeners, so they describe different things and should not be compared. The Q1 2025 audience-share rows come from Radio Online’s report on that analysis. The Australian figure comes from a 1,600-person survey fielded in April 2026, as reported by Mediaweek.
5. Revenue Mix: Podcasts Grow While Broadcast Holds Still
The income statements show the crossover more bluntly than any listening survey. iHeartMedia’s podcast revenue climbed 20.7% to 162.1 million dollars in Q2 2026, while its broadcast radio revenue grew 0.5%, per its Q2 2026 earnings release. Podcasts now make up close to half of the company’s digital revenue, and the Digital Audio Group has out-earned the broadcast-led Multiplatform Group on Adjusted EBITDA (operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and some one-off items) for six consecutive quarters.
Cumulus shows the downside of being smaller. Its digital line held flat while network radio, the syndicated programming business, fell by more than a fifth. SiriusXM’s ad business is now driven by off-platform sales, which include its podcast network, rather than by the satellite service.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| iHeartMedia podcast revenue, Q2 2026 | 162.1 million dollars (+20.7% year over year) | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results |
| iHeartMedia broadcast radio revenue, Q2 2026 | 397.6 million dollars (+0.5%) | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results |
| Podcasts as a share of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group revenue, Q2 2026 | 44.5% (162.1 / 364.1 million dollars) | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results (our calculation) |
| Digital Audio Group as a share of iHeartMedia consolidated revenue, Q2 2026 | 37.3% (364.1 / 977.2 million dollars) | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results (our calculation) |
| iHeartMedia podcast revenue, full year 2025, and share of total revenue | 563.7 million dollars, 14.6% of 3,865.0 million dollars | iHeartMedia, FY2025 results (our calculation) |
| Cumulus Media digital revenue, Q2 2026, and share of net revenue | 38.7 million dollars (-0.3%), 23.1% of 167.9 million dollars | Cumulus Media, Q2 2026 results (our calculation) |
| Cumulus Media network radio revenue, Q2 2026 | 21.4 million dollars (-21.5%) | Cumulus Media, Q2 2026 results |
| SiriusXM advertising revenue, Q3 2026: Pandora and Off-platform (includes podcasts) vs SiriusXM satellite service | 419 million dollars (+1%) vs 37 million dollars (-5%) | SiriusXM, Q3 2026 results |
Context: iHeartMedia’s full-year figures are in its fourth-quarter 2025 release. Cumulus entered Chapter 11 in 2026, and its Q2 2026 release does not split podcast revenue from other digital lines. SiriusXM’s Q3 2026 release credits podcasting, programmatic advertising and technology fees for the Pandora and Off-platform gain without giving a podcast-only number.
6. Public Broadcasters Repackage Radio for Podcast Apps
Public broadcasters now distribute their radio output far beyond their own apps. The BBC logged 231 million downloads of its on-demand radio programmes and podcasts on third-party platforms in Q1 2026, close to the 265 million on-demand radio and podcast plays on its own BBC Sounds app, according to the BBC’s Q1 2026 release. Downloads and plays are different metrics, but the direction is clear: almost as much BBC on-demand speech audio now travels off-platform as on. Radio programmes such as The Archers and In Our Time were among the most popular on-demand titles, and the Global News Podcast was the most downloaded BBC programme on outside platforms. When broadcast audio moves to podcast apps it also meets different loudness targets, a gap covered in our streaming audio loudness normalization statistics.
NPR shows the same shape in the US. Its broadcast portfolio reaches 21.2 million people a week, less than half of the more than 46 million it reaches across all platforms.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| BBC Sounds total plays (radio, podcasts and music), Q1 2026 | 718 million (+5% year over year) | BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release |
| On-demand radio and podcast plays on BBC Sounds, Q1 2026 | 265 million | BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release |
| Downloads of BBC on-demand radio programmes and podcasts on third-party platforms, Q1 2026 | 231 million | BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release |
| BBC audio weekly audience, Q1 2026: average vs record peak | 5.8 million vs 7.2 million | BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release |
| NPR weekly reach across all platforms vs weekly reach of its broadcast portfolio | 46 million+ vs 21.2 million (NPR’s own figures) | NPR / National Public Media, Year in Review 2025 |
| UK share of audio listening hours: live radio vs podcasts | 64% vs 8% | RAJAR, MIDAS Autumn 2025 |
| UK adults listening to podcasts weekly, and weekly hours per podcast listener | 24%; 9 hours | RAJAR, MIDAS Autumn 2025 |
Context: NPR’s reach figures come from its own Year in Review 2025, not an independent audit. The RAJAR figures are from the MIDAS Autumn 2025 wave as reported by Podcasting Today, which links the full RAJAR MIDAS Autumn 2025 PDF.
Summary: Radio-to-Podcast Simulcast & Repurposing by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| iHeart Audience Network, US unique monthly podcast audience, September 2026 | 57,562,000 | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| NPR Sales Network, US unique monthly podcast audience, September 2026 | 18,011,000 from 73 shows | Podtrac, Publisher Rankings September 2026 |
| iHeart vs Audioboom average weekly downloads, February 2026 | 70.8M vs 16.6M | Triton Digital, US Podcast Ranker February 2026 |
| Spoken-word time, Americans 13 to 34: podcasts vs AM/FM | 53% vs 23% | Edison Research, Share of Ear March 2026 |
| Radio plus podcasts, share of daily ad-supported audio time | 82% | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
| Podcasts, share of daily ad-supported audio time | 20% | Nielsen, The Record Q1 2026 |
| P1 listeners’ time with favorite station: broadcast vs digital | 54% vs 44% | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| Gen Z P1 listeners: digital vs broadcast | 49% vs 48% | Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026 |
| AM/FM streams vs ad-supported Spotify, audience share adults 18+ | 8% vs 5% | Cumulus Media / Westwood One, Share of Ear analysis Q1 2025 |
| iHeartMedia podcast revenue, Q2 2026 | 162.1 million dollars (+20.7%) | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results |
| Podcasts as a share of iHeartMedia digital revenue, Q2 2026 | 44.5% | iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 results (our calculation) |
| Cumulus Media digital share of net revenue, Q2 2026 | 23.1% | Cumulus Media, Q2 2026 results (our calculation) |
| SiriusXM off-platform and Pandora ad revenue vs satellite ad revenue, Q3 2026 | 419 million vs 37 million dollars | SiriusXM, Q3 2026 results |
| BBC third-party downloads of on-demand radio and podcasts, Q1 2026 | 231 million | BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release |
| NPR weekly reach, all platforms vs broadcast portfolio | 46 million+ vs 21.2 million | NPR / National Public Media, Year in Review 2025 |
| UK audio listening hours: live radio vs podcasts | 64% vs 8% | RAJAR, MIDAS Autumn 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
- Podtrac, Podcast Publisher Rankings, September 2026 and Podtrac, Top Podcast Rankings, September 2026: US unique monthly audience, downloads and streams, active shows.
- Triton Digital, US Podcast Ranker February 2026 and the September 2026 ranker as reported by PPC Land: average weekly downloads under IAB guidelines version 2.2.
- Edison Research at SSRS: Top 50 Podcasts Q2 2026 (full list with publishers via Podnews), spoken-word listening by age, March 2026, podcasts lead AM/FM in spoken-word listening, February 2026, growth of streamed AM/FM radio, May 2026.
- Nielsen, The Record: Q1 2026 US audio listening trends, with the podcast share from TheDesk.
- Jacobs Media, Techsurvey 2026, as reported by Radio Ink.
- Cumulus Media / Westwood One: podcast promotion deck, September 2023 (citing Edison Research) and the Q1 2025 Share of Ear streaming analysis as reported by Radio Online.
- Commercial Radio & Audio, Infinite Dial Australia 2026 (conducted by Edison Research at SSRS): SSRS key findings and Mediaweek.
- iHeartMedia, Q2 2026 earnings release (SEC Form 8-K) and iHeartMedia, Q4 and full year 2025 results.
- Cumulus Media, Q2 2026 earnings release (SEC Form 8-K).
- SiriusXM, Q3 2026 earnings release (SEC Form 8-K).
- BBC, BBC Sounds Q1 2026 release (via Podnews).
- NPR / National Public Media, Year in Review 2025.
- RAJAR, MIDAS Autumn 2025, via Podcasting Today and the RAJAR report PDF.
- Data watch: Podtrac (unique monthly listeners) and Triton (average weekly downloads) measure different things and both rely on opt-in publishers, so SiriusXM, Audacy and others may be missing from one or both. Triton gave iHeart 70.8 million weekly downloads in February 2026 and 67.3 million in September 2026. Nielsen’s radio share includes AM/FM streams, so radio and simulcast time overlap there. Edison’s 14% streamed share is a share of time and its 30% is a share of listeners. The radio-podcast overlap data is from 2023 and is the most recent available. One trade write-up of the BBC Q1 2026 release printed total plays as 18 million; the BBC’s own figure is 718 million. Ofcom’s 2026 Audio Listening in the UK report and RAJAR’s MIDAS Spring 2026 wave were published but their platform splits could not be retrieved for this update. SiriusXM does not disclose podcast-only revenue, and Cumulus does not split podcasts from other digital revenue. All percentage shares labelled “our calculation” divide the company’s own reported figures, with the math shown in the table.
- Last updated: November 6, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when iHeartMedia publishes its third-quarter 2026 results and Nielsen releases its next edition of The Record.