The latest ranker is here and we’ve made two major updates:
Spotify "Plays" are the new standard for consumption: Podscribe has adopted Spotify's new podcast plays standard, which counts a play only after 30 seconds of watching or listening. Jump to section →
Prioritizing YouTube engaged views instead of the public views everywhere: When your YouTube Analytics is linked to Podscribe, we will report on the exact engaged view count. For shows that are not connected, we will estimate the engaged view at a 39% rate to the public view count. Jump to section →
Additionally…
New measurability signals: Podscribe now makes it easy to see which shows share their cross-platform analytics with us, so buyers can tell direct-from-source numbers from estimates at a glance. Jump to section →
Spot rising advertisers: We’re also launching our rising advertiser ranker for the first time to the public. Jump to section →
Spotify "Streams" are now "Plays"
In June 2026, Spotify introduced a new standard for podcast plays: a play now counts only when an episode is watched or listened to for at least 30 seconds. Spotify says its audience behavior data shows that "thirty seconds is a reliable indicator of intentional consumption," which filters out accidental starts and other low-intent activity.
Spotify also shared its findings with the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), and that data helped inform AMP's newly announced Podcast Plays definition.
Across the Podscribe platform, Spotify "Streams" metrics have been replaced with Spotify’s updated "Plays" metric, using the same 30-second definition as Spotify and the industry.
On average, we are seeing a ~10% uplift in plays vs. streams.
If you have opted your show into Spotify Video and want Podscribe to receive Spotify plays data, follow Spotify Video Podscribe Integration Setup.
Prioritizing YouTube Engaged Views
We've updated how we rank podcast shows and publishers. Since YouTube now counts a view from the very first frame, adding YouTube views directly to audio numbers overstates reach and makes fair comparison hard. Going forward, we'll prioritize YouTube's engaged view metric across our platform and industry rankings.
Publishers who've connected YouTube Analytics will be ranked on their actual engaged views. For everyone else, we'll estimate engaged views at 39% of YouTube's new view counts, a conservative figure that's slightly below what we see for most videos.
Opted-in shows are highlighted for added transparency.
See the shows with YouTube Analytics connected→
This converts them into a figure that can be compared directly with audio consumption. Advertisers get a like-for-like number they can plan and buy against. Publishers get credit for their YouTube audience in a form buyers trust.
Publishers:
Connecting your Analytics
is the best way to ensure you're represented by your true figures, and to keep your billing grounded in real consumption rather than estimates.
Connect now →
New Measurability Signals
Podscribe combines every major source of podcast consumption into one view: RSS downloads, Apple HLS streams, Spotify plays (for video-enabled shows), YouTube engaged views, and Rumble views. Buyers and publishers get one consistent picture of reach across audio and video.
To show how much of each audience we can verify directly, every show in our industry rankings now carries measurability signals based on three connections: the Podscribe RSS Prefix, YouTube Analytics, and Spotify Analytics. Shows with all three share their full analytics, so we report exact metrics rather than estimates.
The most measurable shows are those that share all of their analytics with Podscribe, so we can report exact and not estimated metrics.
Advertisers can use these signals to see at a glance which numbers come straight from the source and which are estimated.
For publishers, each connection means more of your audience is reported with first-party data instead of estimates.
Take a moment to review our
publisher checklist
to make sure Podscribe can report across all of your sources.
Rising Advertisers Ranker Live For The Public
For the first time, we are publishing monthly rising advertiser rankings to all. Moving forward, you will now be able to find Rising Advertisers in our Top Advertisers page.
The Rising Advertiser ranker highlights brands whose past 1-month spend has increased by more than 50% compared to the prior month.
When an advertiser ramps this quickly, it often means podcast advertising is working and they’re doubling down.
Great for publishers looking for expanding budgets, agencies tracking competitive pressure, and brands benchmarking category momentum.
