Podcast Boys Club: Only 21% of Top-Charting Shows Have a Female Host (Exclusive)

TheWrap Special Report: Of 109 shows surveyed over a 31-day period across four podcast networks, only 23 were hosted by women

Women represent roughly half of podcast listeners nationwide, but an overwhelming majority of the top-charting shows across the four major podcast platforms are hosted by men. In fact, men hosted or co-hosted 79% of the most-downloaded or listened-to podcasts over the last month, according to an analysis by TheWrap.

Spotify had the most female-hosted shows on its top 20 list — 28% — during the 31 straight days in June and July analyzed by TheWrap. Meanwhile, women hosted 17% of Stitcher’s top podcasts and 23% of those on Apple Podcasts. The percentage fell to just 6% of the top shows on Google Podcasts, which ranks only its top 12 shows, by downloads. (Stitcher and Spotify rank the top shows by downloads, while Apple’s algorithm analyzes several factors, including consumption, to create its charts.)

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Samson Amore

Reporter • samson.amore@thewrap.com • Twitter: @Samsonamore