Podcast statistics
What the 195 most popular podcasts in the US actually do: how long they run, how often they publish, who hosts their feeds and whether they publish transcripts. Measured from each show's own RSS feed, not a survey.
Key findings
- The median top US podcast runs 52 minutes an episode, and 73 of the 195 chart shows we measured (37%) run an hour or more.
- Only 29 of the 195 top US podcasts (15%) run under 30 minutes an episode.
- The median top US podcast publishes a new episode every 4 days, and 37 of 187 (20%) publish daily or more often.
- 174 of the 195 top US podcasts (89%) had published an episode in the week before the chart was read.
- Only 24 of the 195 top US podcasts (12%) link a transcript of their own from their newest episode's feed, and 21 of those are timed.
- True Crime is the biggest genre on the US Apple Podcasts chart, with 40 of the 195 shows (21%).
- The most common feed host among top US podcasts is megaphone.fm, serving 48 of 195 feeds (25%), followed by simplecast.com with 37.
How often they publish
The median number of days between each show's newest episodes. 187 shows had enough dated episodes to measure.
| Publishes | Shows | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Daily or more | 37 | 20% |
| Every 2 to 3 days | 48 | 26% |
| Every 4 to 8 days | 91 | 49% |
| Less often | 11 | 6% |
How long they run
The median top show runs 52 minutes. By genre, and every show from shortest to longest, on how long are podcasts.
| Episode length | Shows | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 minutes | 16 | 8% |
| 20 to 39 minutes | 39 | 20% |
| 40 to 59 minutes | 67 | 34% |
| 60 to 89 minutes | 47 | 24% |
| 90 minutes or more | 26 | 13% |
Genres on the chart
Apple's genre for each show. Genres with at least 5 shows; each links to its own chart.
| Genre | Shows | Share |
|---|---|---|
| True Crime | 40 | 21% |
| Comedy | 18 | 9% |
| Entrepreneurship | 15 | 8% |
| Society & Culture | 12 | 6% |
| Technology | 9 | 5% |
| Daily News | 8 | 4% |
| Politics | 7 | 4% |
| Self-Improvement | 7 | 4% |
| Christianity | 6 | 3% |
| Documentary | 5 | 3% |
| Management | 5 | 3% |
Who hosts their feeds
The domain each show's RSS feed is served from, which is usually its hosting platform. Domains serving at least 3 of the 195 feeds.
| Feed domain | Shows | Share |
|---|---|---|
megaphone.fm | 48 | 25% |
simplecast.com | 37 | 19% |
art19.com | 11 | 6% |
pdrl.fm | 11 | 6% |
libsyn.com | 10 | 5% |
omnycontent.com | 10 | 5% |
amperwave.net | 8 | 4% |
audioboom.com | 7 | 4% |
npr.org | 7 | 4% |
anchor.fm | 6 | 3% |
buzzsprout.com | 6 | 3% |
acast.com | 4 | 2% |
flightcast.com | 3 | 2% |
podbean.com | 3 | 2% |
podcastfeeds.nbcnews.com | 3 | 2% |
Transcripts
24 of the 195 shows link a transcript of their own from their newest episode, with the Podcasting 2.0 podcast:transcript tag. A show can offer several formats. The shows are listed on podcast transcripts.
| Format | Shows |
|---|---|
| WebVTT | 21 |
| SRT | 16 |
| Text | 13 |
| HTML | 6 |
| JSON | 4 |
How we measured
The sample is Apple's US top 200 podcasts chart, read on October 27, 2026, less the shows whose feed didn't answer: 195 shows. For each we read its RSS feed. Episode length is the median itunes:duration of up to ten newest episodes, and how often it publishes is the median gap between their dates, both measured October 29, 2026. Shows stating fewer than three lengths are left out of those two. Transcripts are whether the newest episode carries a podcast:transcript link, checked October 28, 2026. The feed domain is the address's host with a leading www., feed., feeds., rss. or media. removed. Shares are rounded to the nearest whole percent.
Each show's numbers are on its own page under podcast RSS feeds, so any figure here can be checked show by show.
Questions
- How long is the average popular podcast?
- The median show on the US Apple Podcasts chart runs 52 minutes an episode, measured from 195 shows' feeds on October 29, 2026. The full list is on how long are podcasts.
- How often do top podcasts publish?
- The median chart show puts out an episode every 4 days. 37 publish daily or more often, and 91 publish about weekly (every 4 to 8 days).
- Do popular podcasts have transcripts?
- Few publish their own: 24 of 195 link one from their feed. Apple Podcasts generates its own transcripts, which you read inside its app.
- Can I cite these numbers?
- Yes. Link to this page: its address won't change. Each number is recomputed whenever we read the chart and feeds again, and the dates are on the page.
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To cite: BitePods, “Podcast statistics”, https://bitepods.com/podcast-statistics, chart read October 27, 2026.