What Did MIDiA Publish, and When?
MIDiA Research, an analyst firm that covers music, the creator economy and entertainment, has published a report titled “Podcast market shares 2025: A two-horse race – with YouTube out in front,” by analysts Mark Qi and Laura Fisher (MIDiA Research). Its public summary is a press release dated October 15, 2026, which Podnews published on its press-release pages (Podnews), and Podnews reported the findings in its October 16 news edition (Podnews, October 16). The data is three days old as of this guide, and it is the first market-share dataset of this kind we have covered.
It is a different question from the one in our October 17 guide on whether fewer new podcasts are launching in 2026. That guide used Listen Notes’ counts of shows and episodes, which measure supply. MIDiA counts users on platforms, which measures where listening happens. The two can move in opposite directions: fewer new shows can launch in a year when more people use podcast apps.
Anyone citing the numbers should know where they come from. Every figure in this guide is from the release. The report page itself shows no user or share figures; it offers a request-access form, says an Excel dataset is published alongside the report, and says reports are sold by purchase or subscription, with no price shown. We did not buy the report.
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who published it? | MIDiA Research; analysts Mark Qi and Laura Fisher | MIDiA report page |
| When? | Release dated October 15, 2026 | MIDiA release |
| What does it measure? | Monthly active users at the end of Q4 each year, in millions | MIDiA report page |
| Are users de-duplicated? | No. Totals are gross, so multi-platform users count more than once | MIDiA report page |
| Total users, Q4 2025 | 965.4 million gross | MIDiA release |
| Is the method public? | Not in the pages we read: no sample, country list or data sources | MIDiA release; report page |
How Many People Use Podcast Platforms Worldwide?
The release says podcast platforms “now collectively have almost a billion monthly users,” with 965.4 million gross users in the fourth quarter of 2025. It says monthly active podcast accounts have increased by 184% since 2020 (MIDiA release). Mark Qi, MIDiA’s forecasting and modelling analyst, is quoted: “Podcasting is a nascent industry and growth remains strong.” He attributes the growth to overseas markets, the pandemic boom and “diversification of platforms.”
Two cautions apply before anyone repeats “a billion podcast listeners.” First, the total is a sum of platform users, not a count of people. MIDiA’s report page gives the example itself: a user of Spotify and Amazon Music “would be counted twice in a gross total figure” (MIDiA Research). Since many listeners use more than one app, the number of distinct people is lower than 965.4 million, by an amount the public pages do not give. Second, the release does not say what counts as a podcast user on each platform. On a general video service, someone who watched one clip of a podcast in a month might qualify, or might not; we cannot tell from what is published.
The headline on Podnews’ news edition, “Podcasting now has almost a billion listeners worldwide,” is a fair shorthand for the release, but “listeners” there means gross platform users. For scale, Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2026 survey estimates that 58% of Americans aged 12 and over, or 167 million people, consumed a podcast in the last month (Edison Research). That is a survey of people in one country; MIDiA’s figure is a model of platform accounts worldwide. The two are not directly comparable, and our guide to how many Americans listen to podcasts covers the US survey figures in more detail.
Did YouTube Drive Most of the Growth?
It drove the most growth, not most of it. The release is specific on the platform gains: YouTube went from 281.2 million users in 2024 to 308.2 million in 2025, an increase of 27.0 million. Spotify added 10.8 million and Apple added 2.0 million. Across all platforms, it says, “total podcast users grew by over 60 million between 2024 and 2025, with YouTube driving the most growth” (MIDiA release).
The wording matters, because it is easy to misread. YouTube’s 27.0 million is the largest single gain, but it is less than half of a total of more than 60 million; the exact total is not given. YouTube, Spotify and Apple together account for 39.8 million, so roughly 20 million or more of the growth came from other platforms the release does not break out, such as Ximalaya FM, Amazon Music or regional services. These are our calculations from the release’s figures. Any summary that says YouTube accounted for most of 2025’s growth goes further than the release does.
Millions of monthly active users added between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025
Figures are MIDiA’s gross monthly active users for Q4 of each year; one person on two platforms counts twice. The release states these three “added” figures but not Spotify’s or Apple’s total user counts, so only the stated figures are charted. The release gives total growth only as “over 60 million,” so it is not charted as a bar. We did not read the full report.
The chart shows how uneven the stated gains were. YouTube added about two and a half times as many users as Spotify and more than thirteen times as many as Apple. Apple’s 2.0 million is small next to either, which fits the release’s wider point that services embedded in large general platforms are growing fastest.
Who Holds the Share, and Where?
In MIDiA’s model, YouTube holds a 32% global share. Ximalaya FM, which the release calls “China’s largest online audio-sharing and podcast platform,” ranks second with 29.2%, “a notable position given that its userbase is almost entirely in China.” Spotify ranks third. Apple Podcasts ranks fourth globally and third when China is excluded. YouTube and Spotify together hold 50.0% (MIDiA release).
The figures are internally consistent. YouTube’s 308.2 million divided by 965.4 million is 31.9%, which rounds to the stated 32%. If YouTube and Spotify together hold 50.0%, Spotify’s share is about 18% by subtraction. The release does not state Spotify’s share or user count, so treat 18% as our arithmetic, not MIDiA’s figure.
| Platform | Rank (global) | What the release states |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 1 | 308.2 million users in 2025, 32% share; added 27.0 million; leads almost every territory except China |
| Ximalaya FM | 2 | 29.2% share; userbase almost entirely in China |
| Spotify | 3 | Added 10.8 million users; “stronghold in the Nordics”; 50.0% combined with YouTube |
| Apple Podcasts | 4 (3 excluding China) | Added 2.0 million users |
Regionally, the release says YouTube “leads in almost every territory,” with China a clear exception because YouTube does not operate there, and that it holds over half of the market in Latin America. YouTube “has sustained global growth since 2019,” it adds. For a company whose customers are concentrated in one region, the regional picture matters more than the global ranking, and the public release gives only these three regional notes.
Why Does YouTube Say It Has a Billion Podcast Users?
Because it counts something else. In February 2025, YouTube said there were more than “1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content on YouTube,” and that YouTube “is now the most frequently used service for listening to podcasts in the U.S.” (YouTube Official Blog). MIDiA’s figure for YouTube at the end of 2025 is 308.2 million. Both cannot be counts of the same thing.
Neither source publishes the definition that would reconcile them. YouTube’s figure is a platform’s own count of anyone who viewed content it classifies as podcasts. MIDiA’s is an analyst model whose method is not public. A plausible reading is that YouTube’s count includes people who watch any podcast clip, while MIDiA counts something closer to regular podcast use, but that is our inference, not something either source says. Edison’s survey offers a third scale: 84% of Americans aged 12 and over use YouTube monthly (Edison Research), which shows how large the pool of potential podcast viewers on YouTube is.
The practical lesson is the same as with download counts. Our guide on whether Podtrac counts video the way YouTube does shows how different counting rules produce different rankings from the same listening. A platform-level number, whichever one is quoted, is not evidence of what a particular show or episode reaches.
Why Might a General-Purpose Platform Win?
MIDiA’s explanation is scale. The release says “platform scale matters as much as the podcast proposition,” and that multi-purpose platforms such as YouTube and Spotify “embed podcasts within their existing audiences, putting audio-only services such as Audible, BBC Sounds, and NPR at a structural disadvantage.” It adds that “growing screen fatigue and wider concerns about time spent watching video could give audio-only platforms an opportunity to regain some ground” (MIDiA release). Laura Fisher, MIDiA’s audio and entertainment analyst, is quoted: “The podcasting industry has traditionally focused on listenership, regardless of platform.”
These are interpretations, not measurements, and the release does not show the data behind the “structural disadvantage” claim. There is also a counterpoint inside the YouTube figures: a person who finds a show on YouTube may still play it as audio with the screen off. Our guide on how people consume podcasts now covers the video-versus-audio question, and our report on independent podcast apps after the Castro sale shows how small the audio-only apps’ slice already is.
What This Means for Anyone Booking a Podcast Guest Spot
A platform ranking describes where audiences are, not whether a particular show reaches them. Five points follow; they are our recommendations, not rules from MIDiA or any platform.
- Ask where the show’s episodes are actually played. A show’s own platform split, from its host or its analytics, is better evidence than a global share. Our guide to reading podcast analytics in Apple Podcasts and Spotify explains what those dashboards report and why their numbers differ.
- Ask whether the show publishes full video episodes. If YouTube holds the largest slice of podcast users, a show with full episodes on its own YouTube channel can reach more of them than an audio-only feed. Our guide to setting up a YouTube channel for a podcast describes what that involves. A video presence is not an audience in itself.
- Weigh discoverability, not just reach. Where an appearance lives affects whether it can be found later in search and AI answers; our comparison of which platform gives a guest search visibility and the Spotify-or-YouTube test cover that question.
- Do not quote 965.4 million or 32% as a show’s reach. They are gross, modeled, platform-level figures. No guest gets a share of them by appearing on a show.
- Check the region. A guest whose buyers are in China, Latin America or the Nordics faces a different platform mix from the global one, according to the release’s regional notes.
A guest spot, whether earned through a pitch, as in our guide to pitching yourself as a podcast guest, or booked through a service, is not a promise of listeners. Neither MIDiA’s figures nor any platform’s own count guarantees an audience for a particular episode.
Methodology and Limitations
Four limits apply. First, we read MIDiA’s release as published by Podnews and MIDiA’s public report page, not the report or its Excel dataset, so every figure here is as the release states it; Podnews notes that it may make small edits to press releases. Second, the release does not describe its sample, its country coverage, its data sources or how MIDiA defines a podcast user on each platform. Third, the user counts are gross, so shares are shares of platform accounts, not of people. Fourth, the data describe Q4 2025, a period that ended nearly ten months before the report was released, so they are not a reading of listening today.
The Spotify share of about 18%, the 39.8 million combined gain for three platforms and the comparison of YouTube’s gain with total growth are our arithmetic, labeled where they appear. YouTube’s billion-viewer figure is the company’s own count from February 2025 and was not independently checked.
Conclusion
The headline is easy to repeat: podcasting is near a billion users and YouTube is in front. The uncomfortable part for anyone paying for a guest spot is how little that says about a single show. A 32% share of a gross, modeled, multi-platform count is a reason to ask about a show’s video presence and platform split before booking, not a forecast of what an appearance will deliver. If a seller of podcast placements cites MIDiA’s totals, or YouTube’s billion, as evidence of a show’s audience, ask for the show’s own play or download data instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people use podcast platforms, according to MIDiA Research?
MIDiA says podcast platforms had 965.4 million gross monthly users in Q4 2025, close to one billion. The figure is gross, so a person who uses two platforms is counted twice, and it is not a count of unique listeners.
What share of podcast users does YouTube have?
MIDiA’s model gives YouTube a 32% global share, with 308.2 million users in 2025, up from 281.2 million in 2024. It added 27.0 million users, the most of any platform.
Did YouTube account for most of podcasting’s growth in 2025?
No. MIDiA says YouTube drove the most growth, but its 27.0 million gain is under half of the more than 60 million total growth, by our arithmetic from the release.
Is Ximalaya bigger than Spotify?
In MIDiA’s ranking, yes. Ximalaya FM is second with a 29.2% share and Spotify is third. MIDiA says Ximalaya’s users are almost entirely in China.
Why does YouTube say it has a billion podcast viewers?
YouTube said in February 2025 that it had more than 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content. That is its own count under its own definition, which differs from MIDiA’s modeled 308.2 million.
Can I use MIDiA’s numbers to show a podcast’s reach?
No. They describe platforms, not individual shows, and the method is not public. A show’s own analytics are better evidence, and no platform figure guarantees listeners for an appearance.
Sources
This report is built from MIDiA Research’s release and public report page, Podnews’ October 16 news edition, YouTube’s February 2025 announcement and Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2026 summary, all read on October 18, 2026. The share and growth arithmetic is ours and is labeled; the booking advice is our recommendation, not a platform rule. We did not read the full MIDiA report or dataset.
- vendor research MIDiA Research (via Podnews press releases), Podcasting’s boom brings the global market close to a billion users, October 15, 2026. Supports all user counts, shares, rankings, growth figures, regional notes and quotations. Read October 18, 2026.
- vendor research MIDiA Research (Mark Qi, Laura Fisher), Podcast market shares 2025: A two-horse race – with YouTube out in front. Supports the authors, the MAU definition, gross counting and the access model. Read October 18, 2026.
- trade press Podnews, news edition of October 16, 2026. Supports the date and Podnews’ summary of the findings. Read October 18, 2026.
- platform documentation YouTube Official Blog, Drop the mic: Celebrating 1 billion monthly podcast users on YouTube, February 26, 2025. Supports YouTube’s own billion-viewer figure and its US usage claim. Read October 18, 2026.
- vendor research Edison Research at SSRS, The Infinite Dial 2026. Supports the 58% (167 million) monthly podcast and 84% monthly YouTube figures. Read October 18, 2026.