The State of Podcasting 2026
An 84-page deep dive into how podcasts are evolving - featuring exclusive data from 2.4M episodes, 18,000 hosts, and 94 million listener sessions.
Monthly Guest Bookings Index (2025 = 100)
Seasonally-adjusted booking volume across the PodMatch platform.
Top 4 findings
Niche beats celebrity
Shows with <10K downloads/episode convert listeners to email subscribers 4.2x better than shows with >100K.
Source: PodMatch cohort n=2,148
Video-first is now default
67% of new shows launch with a YouTube cut day one - up from 29% two years ago.
Source: YouTube Podcasts data
B2B guesting ROI
B2B founders who appeared on 12+ podcasts in 2025 reported average pipeline lift of $487K.
Source: PodMatch annual survey
Short-form feeds discovery
TikTok + Shorts + Reels now drive 41% of new podcast trial listens, surpassing paid ads for the first time.
Source: Edison Research Q1 2026
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Includes 47 charts, 12 case studies, and the full methodology appendix.
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