The That Peter Crouch Podcast is officially the UK’s favourite sports podcast according to new research carried out by OLBG.com.
The show, which recently returned for its fifth series, is the most popular sporting podcast across Apple, Spotify and online interest at the start of 2021 in a study that also revealed how Spotify is the UK’s top platform for listening to podcasts.
In the UK, around 12% of the adult population (6.5 million) listen to at least one podcast per week with figures increasing year on year.
While lockdown has changed the listening habits of people who are no longer commuting to work, podcasts remain a popular way of keeping up-to-date with certain communities, new stories or topics.
OLBG’s Popular Sporting Podcasts looked at the podcast charts at the start of 2021 to find out which are the most popular sports titles when it comes to downloads, chart performance and online popularity.
The study also looked at differences in streaming habits between the two major podcast providers – Apple and Spotify.
OLBG have combined the contrasting podcast charts from providers Spotify and Apple and looked into the online interest in each podcast – via monthly Google search data – to reveal the ultimate ‘Top 50’ sports podcasts in the UK.
Football podcasts dominate the top 10, with The Guardian’s Football Weekly, BBC’s Football Daily, The Totally Football Show with James Richardson, Clyde Superscoreboard and The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher all making the top 10.
Between the top 50 Apple and Spotify charts at the end of January 2021 there were 70 different podcasts, with 34 football-themed titles accounting for 49%, followed by eight with a general sport focus.
Rugby also performs well, with five entries on the chart – averaging a ranking of 21 and the top one being The Rugby Pod.
Apple podcasts on rugby are the overall best-performing pods. They make up 6% of the Apple top 50 charts but have an average position of 11th place with Rugby Union Weekly, The Rugby Pod and The Good, The Bad & The Rugby all proving very popular on the platform.
UFC podcasts are the least successful, with the four entries across the two providers ranking 61st on average – based on online popularity and the chart performances.
Test Match Special was the most searched-for podcast at the end of January 2021 – partly due to England’s tour of Sri Lanka – followed by Athletico Mince, Clyde Superscoreboard and NHS Couch to 5K+, the last of which is far more popular online than in the charts.
The Anfield Wrap, Talk is Jericho and House of Rugby are three others that are very popular in online searches, along with Tailenders, Fighting Talk, Quickly Kevin and The Square Ball.
Overall however, Spotify is the most popular streaming service with fans, beating Apple.
Of all the top 50 podcasts at the end of January 2021, there were a combined 209,596 reviews with an average rating of 4.68 out of five – compared to just 146,744 reviews for the Apple charts and an average rating of 4.64.
Commenting on the findings, OLBG’s Richard Moffat said: “Podcast popularity has grown massively since the world went into lockdown in 2020 and has become one of the best ways to connect with a large audience on a regular basis. With people having so much more time on their hands, we have seen a host of new shows flood the market and make it a booming industry.
“With many of us trying podcasts for the first time, we wanted to build a chart representative of what the public really like. That Peter Crouch Podcast topped our charts and fans will be pleased to know that the show will return during February 2021 for a fifth series but there are many other great shows on the list to try out.”
You can see the charts and data here.
