Reach of podcasts stays steady: The Podcast Landscape 2026

Sponsored by SoundStack. Your new revenue opportunity lives in existing podcast content. Rediscover, repurpose, and monetize more of the audio and video you already have with SoundStack AI. Learn more Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2026 was released. Overall reach of podcasts remains steady at 74% of all Americans; but 34% of podcast consumers say they started consuming podcasts within the past year, up from 28% in 2025. As we heard at Podcast Movement a few weeks ago, in its first year carrying podcasts, Netflix was named by 21% of podcast consumers as a platform they had used in the past 12 months, placing it third behind YouTube (63%) and Spotify (33%), and ahead of Apple Podcasts (15%). The winners of the Black Podcasting Awards were announced. The special occasion celebrated 66 award wins across 57 categories, earned by 44 podcasts, spanning comedy, true crime, business, faith, and everything in between. The Legend Award was won by Kevin Y Brown; we've a full list of the winners. Oxford Road published the top performing shows for B2B advertising campaigns. It reminds us that listeners don't just listen to business podcasts - and that you need to find them based on what they listen to, rather than merely the subject of the podcast. > > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter. Classifieds - your job or ad here A simpler podcast recording tool — The big platforms keep piling on AI editing and charging you for it. SureTake records in studio quality and hands off cleanly to whatever you edit in. That's it. A Year of Production Data From 100+ Shows — What changed from last year and what it means going forward, covering format mix, publishing cadence, and what separates shows with measurable business impact from ones that fade away. Track every show, every client, one view — Every show and episode moves through your stages, so you can see what's stuck across all clients at once. Add every client and freelancer at no extra cost. Free for 15 days, no card. Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Beehiiv, The $100 MBA, Podbean, The Podglomerate, Cloud10, Magid, Audiohook, Libsyn, PAVE Studios, Simplecast, The Content Creator's Accountant, Sounds Profitable, Podscribe, audioBoom, RedCircle, Scicomm Media, Cohost, Jar Podcast Solutions, Awesound, We Edit Podcasts, Acast, Podpage websites Silver supporters: Audacia Audio, Gamut Podcast Network, Bumper, Sounds Debatable, True Native Media, Nomono, Magellan AI, Blubrry, Podium , Companion Arts, Castbox, Frequency, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Hypecast, SoundStack, Podium, Voxtopica, Podcast Movement, POW PR, The Podcast Haven, Tink Media, Ausha, Truefans, Locked On Podcast Network, Red Seat Ventures, iono.fm, Jonekiri, Compliance Podcast Network, PodAnalyst, Health Podcast Network, Lemonada Media, CreatorX, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Double Elvis Productions, Jam Street Media, Transistor, Diversion Podcasts, Rephonic, Rhapsody Voices, Headliner, Content10x, Podcast Partnership, Cleanfeed, Adopter Media, Podigy, Revolver Podcasts, Lower Street, School of Podcasting, Signal Hill Insights Our supporters pay for Podnews, so everyone can read it. Join them today. Image: Sounds Profitable