The top-earning podcast in every country mapped

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“What’s your favorite podcast?” would have been a weird question before 2005, but these days everyone has an answer and will be happy to tell you what it is.

Today it is estimated that there are around 850,000 active podcasts and over 30 million podcast episodes. But in comparison to other media, the podcast industry is tiny, bringing in less than 1 billion dollars in ad revenue.

As those figures continue to grow, finance experts at Top Dollar want to uncover the biggest earners around the world in 2021.

Top Dollar compiled the top 20 podcasts in individual countries across both Spotify and Apple lists using Chartable. Then the team found the selected podcasts on Castbox and recorded the number of plays, number of overall episodes, and the number of episodes in the last 12 months.
Following the calculation that Castbox sees about 2% of overall plays, Top Dollar multiplied the number of plays by 50 and calculated the number of plays by episode. The team estimated the potential earnings in the last 12 months by assuming three 60 second ads per episode and taking CPM values from AdvertiseCast. Below is a world map poster of every country’s highest-earning podcast.

Every country’s highest-earning podcast

Key Findings:
● The highest-earning podcast in the US and the world is The Joe Rogan Experience, with
$72.3m in potential earnings.
● Europe’s top-earning podcast is Sh**ged Married Annoyed, a comedy show from the UK
with an estimated value of $10.6m per year.
● The highest-earning business podcast is the US show The GaryVee Audio Experience, with $6.3m.
● 14 countries where the most-listened show has potential earnings of over $1m.

Every Country’s Highest-Earning Business Podcast

Hosted by entrepreneur, CEO, investor, vlogger, and public speaker Gary Vaynerchuk, The GaryVee Audio Experience is the highest-earning business podcast in the United States and worldwide. Brazil’s top podcast is PoupeCast, which helps people organize their finances. It’s doing pretty well for itself financially and is the second highest-earning podcast on the business map below.

Every Country’s Highest-Earning Comedy Podcast

Dax Shephard’s The Armchair Expert, the highest-earning comedy podcast globally, celebrates the messiness of being human. Chris & Rosie Ramsey’s Sh**ged Married Annoyed from the United Kingdom is the second highest-earning podcast on the comedy map. The only way these two can have a conversation without being interrupted by a toddler is by doing a podcast. It’s working!

Every Country’s Highest-Earning Sports Podcast

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugtz is the top-earning sports podcast in the United States and the world, with over $26 million banked. Coming out of Miami, their unique blend of self-deprecation humor and awesome guests have sports fans turning in from all over the world. In second place is the fitness industry’s no-nonsense personal trainer James Smith.

Every Country’s Highest-Earning Technology Podcast

Brazil’s Loop Matianal brings people the latest tech news and is the highest-earning technology podcast globally, with close to $2 million in the bank. With its true stories about the dark side of the internet. Jack Rhysider’s Darknet Diaries is not far behind as the second top-earning podcast on our tech map.

Every Country’s Highest-Earning True Crime Podcast

Since its inception in early 2016, My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark has broken download records. Their enthusiastic “Murderino” fan base comes out in droves for their sold-out worldwide tours. The show has bagged over $26 million and is the top earner on this true-crime map.