Major Show Goes Missing from YouTube Podcast Chart
With YouTube rolling out its new podcast ranker, a few things caught my eye, including how a major show with seven million YouTube subscribers didn't make the chart.
If you know me, you know I’m a podcast chart freak.
Better than coffee and candy combined, I’m constantly checking the charts on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music to feed my addiction. And now I have another place to check - YouTube.
In the works since last year, the YouTube podcast chart will publish every Wednesday and only cover one hundred shows in the U.S. for right now.
In making the announcement, YouTube podcast product guru Steve McLendon hinted at more to come. “We’re building out more features and expanding podcast charts to additional regions,” he said.
Who’s Missing from the YouTube Podcast Chart?
Noticeably absent from this chart is Ben Shapiro from The Daily Wire.
The YouTube podcast chart is based on watch time so is one of the most successful conservative talkers shedding audience? Launched in 2016, Ben Shapiro’s YouTube channel has 4.4 billion lifetime views. But a look at VidIQ shows Shapiro has averaged 1.1 million views a day the last 60 days, and his show’s average daily views appear to be softening.
Are Shapiro fans moving to Spotify, where his show is now available in video form? Maybe. Or maybe there’s something deeper happening here. The Daily Wire fell out of the top ten on the Podtrac ranker for April. And The Daily Wire says Shapiro is revamping things and moving to 90-minute episodes. Coincidence? Meantime, Matt Walsh, Shapiro’s colleague, made the YouTube podcast chart (#93).
Also missing? Major American mainstream news outlets. On this inaugural chart, you will find 48 Hours (#4) and 60 Minutes (#25) from CBS as well as NBC Nightly News (#38) but that’s it. This means only three percent of this chart features traditional news outlets; more proof consumers are seeking sources of information beyond legacy news organizations.
What Will I Monitor on the YouTube Chart?
I will watch how often the top shows change and whether entertainers like Joe Rogan top the chart week in, week out. Will King Joe ever get dethroned? If so, who will topple him? Theo Von? Shawn Ryan? I will also watch whether news and sports podcasts pop when there are timely or headline-driven events.
I also hope YouTube goes beyond this list and provides charts based on genres. And can we get this chart to update daily? Google Trends, another addiction of mine, updates frequently. I can see what’s Trending Now within the last four hours. So I would love to see something similar for this YouTube podcast chart, eventually.
Check out the complete podcast chart on YouTube here.
John Wordock served as Executive Editor and SVP for Podcasting at Westwood One from 2019 to 2024, helping build Cumulus Podcast Network into a top ten network and top channel on Apple Podcasts. He also served as Executive Producer for Podcasts at The Wall Street Journal until 2019. In podcasting since 2006, he now runs John Wordock Media. You can reach him at John@JohnWordockMedia.com.