Industry Rankings December 2025:
The December 2025 rankings underscore continued momentum across podcasting and audio advertising, even as year-end seasonality contributed to softer month-over-month reach for many of the biggest shows. This month’s data, captured between December 1 and December 31, 2025, highlights the competitive dynamics shaping audio performance, from steady leaders in reach to shifting viewership patterns and advertiser spend surges closing out the year.
Podcast Show Highlights:
- Stability at the top despite softer reach: The top five shows by audio reach remain unchanged: The Daily, Crime Junkie, The Joe Rogan Experience, Up First from NPR, and NPR News Now, even amid a month-over-month decline in audio reach.
- IHIP News and Crime Junkie re-enter the top 10 monthly downloads & views rankings, landing at #7 and #9 respectively.
- Candace (#2, 47.3M) and The Joe Rogan Experience (#3, 46.2M) switch positions in monthly downloads & views.
- The MeidasTouch Podcast continues to dominate the monthly downloads & views chart.
Publisher Highlights:
- Audacy returns to the top 10 by audio reach, overtaking The New York Times.
- The top publishers by audio reach retain their positions from last month: Spotify, SXM Media, Acast, and iHeartMedia.
- Acast jumps to #2 from #5, despite a 6% drop in monthly downloads & views, reinforcing its leadership in reach and publisher momentum.
- 9 out of 10 publishers in the top rankings declined across both audio reach and monthly downloads & views, reflecting seasonal demand shifts in December.
Advertiser Highlights:
- Amazon takes the top spot with estimated ad spend at 7.4M (+47%).
- Aura Frames rockets into the chart at #2, representing a 133% increase versus the previous month.
- Two new entrants join the top 10: The Coca-Cola Company and Liberty Mutual join the top 10 advertisers in estimated spend at #7 (5.0M, +94%) and #8 (3.8M, +148%), respectively.
- Spend trends skew upward: 8 out of 10 advertisers increased spend in December, with only BetterHelp and Squarespace showing declines.
About Podscribe
Podscribe is the leader in pixel-based attribution, incrementality, and verification for podcast, streaming, CTV, and other hard-to-measure media channels. We help advertisers, agencies, and publishers measure true campaign impact, optimize performance, and scale with confidence, backed by real-time, household-level data.
Learn more at www.podscribe.com or contact us at marketing@podscribe.com.
