YouTube is the leading podcast platform among US adults who listen to 5 hours or more of these shows per week, with 55% tuning in there. Streaming audio platforms Spotify and Apple Podcasts take second and third place, respectively, while Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and Facebook round out the top five.

On today's episode, we discuss Spotify's Q3 earnings, the company's growing ad business, and the viability of video podcasts. We then talk about Amazon building a new music-centric live audio app and who is winning the gaming platform war. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Thirty percent of the adult population were Spotify listeners, followed by YouTube Music (15%), Apple Music (12%), Amazon Music (9%), CBC Music (8%), SoundCloud (7%), Stingray (6%), and iHeartRadio (2%), according to Edison Research’s survey. A contributing factor to this dominance is that other US audio streamers do not operate in Canada, namely Pandora.

According to Edison’s 2021 polling, 30% of the adult population were Spotify listeners, followed by YouTube Music (15%), Apple Music (12%), Amazon Music (9%), CBC Listen (8%), SoundCloud (7%), Stingray (6%), and iHeart Radio (2%).

Investing in podcasts allows audio distributors to reduce their reliance on labels because, unlike music hits that people stream, podcasts aren’t usually owned by labels. “The higher proportion of time Spotify listeners spend on podcasts versus music, the less of its revenue it has to pay labels,” McCormick wrote. The incentives McCormick alludes to aren’t always straightforward.