Podcast Platform Market Share 2026: YouTube, Spotify, Apple
TL;DR: YouTube leads U.S. podcast listening: in Q4 2025, 39% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers used YouTube most often for podcasts, ahead of Spotify at 20% and Apple Podcasts at 11% (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026). By time spent, YouTube had 32% of daily podcast consumption time, Spotify 25% and Apple 20% (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026). Spotify says it carries 7 million podcast titles (Spotify company info).
Table of Contents
- Platform Market Share Overview
- YouTube's Lead
- Spotify's Position
- Apple Podcasts' Position
- Other Platforms
- FAQ
Platform Market Share Overview
YouTube is the service U.S. weekly podcast consumers 13+ use most often for podcasts (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
U.S. podcast platform share, Q4 2025:
| Platform | Used most often (U.S. weekly podcast consumers 13+) | Share of daily podcast time (U.S. 13+) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 39% | 32% | Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026 |
| Spotify | 20% | 25% | Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026 |
| Apple Podcasts | 11% | 20% | Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026 |
| Other | – | 23% | Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026 |
A separate survey of U.S. weekly podcast consumers points the same way.
In the Fall 2025 Podcast Download survey, 42% of weekly podcast consumers said they use YouTube most for podcasts (Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights).
In Signal Hill Insights' Fall 2025 survey, nearly three times as many U.S. weekly podcast consumers used YouTube most often for podcasts as used Spotify most (Signal Hill Insights, 2025).
YouTube's Lead
YouTube podcast statistics:
- 1 billion+ monthly active viewers of podcast content on YouTube as of January 2025 (YouTube, 2025)
- 39% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers used YouTube most often for podcasts in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026)
- 42% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers used YouTube most in Signal Hill Insights' Fall 2025 survey (Signal Hill Insights, 2025)
- 64% of Podtrac's top 200 multi-channel podcasts posted video episodes to YouTube in March 2026 (Podtrac, 2026)
Spotify's Position
Spotify holds second place in both Edison measures (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
Spotify podcast statistics:
- 7 million podcast titles available (Spotify company info)
- 25% of daily podcast consumption time among Americans age 13+ in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026)
- 20% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers used Spotify most often for podcasts in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026)
The Netflix partnership: Spotify and Netflix announced a video podcast partnership on October 14, 2025, with select Spotify Studios and The Ringer shows planned for Netflix in the U.S. starting in early 2026 (Spotify, 2025).
Apple Podcasts' Position
Apple Podcasts ranks third on how often it is used, though its share of listening time (20%) is close to Spotify's (25%) (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
Apple Podcasts statistics:
- 20% of daily podcast consumption time among Americans age 13+ in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026)
- 11% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers used Apple Podcasts most often for podcasts in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026)
Other Platforms
Services outside YouTube, Spotify and Apple accounted for 23% of daily podcast consumption time among Americans age 13+ in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
Platform fragmentation implications:
For podcasters, listening spread across several services means distributing everywhere still matters:
- Publish to all major platforms via RSS
- Post your video version to YouTube
- Keep your Spotify and Apple listings complete for listeners who use those apps
- Track analytics across platforms to understand your specific audience
Your own audience data should inform platform priorities more than any industry average.
FAQ
Which platform has the most podcast listeners in 2026?
In the U.S., it's YouTube.
Among U.S. weekly podcast consumers age 13+ in Q4 2025, 39% used YouTube most often for podcasts, 20% Spotify and 11% Apple Podcasts (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026).
By time spent, YouTube had 32% of daily podcast consumption time, ahead of Spotify (25%) and Apple (20%) (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026). YouTube also reported more than 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content as of January 2025 (YouTube, 2025).
How many podcasts are on Spotify?
Spotify says it carries 7 million podcast titles (Spotify company info).
Should podcasters prioritize YouTube over other platforms?
YouTube is the service the largest share of U.S. weekly podcast consumers use most often: 39% named it in Q4 2025 (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026). Still, Spotify and Apple together accounted for 45% of daily podcast consumption time among Americans age 13+ in Q4 2025, a separate Edison measure (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2026), so publish everywhere and post your video version to YouTube.
Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash
Want your own back catalog searchable? See the best searchable podcast archive tools, Podpage alternatives and who PodRewind is for.