What you need to know:

• Commercial Radio Australia will now publish its podcast ranker to include listener and download figures.
• The Top 100 and the Top 10 Publisher lists (based on participating publishers) will also be ranked in order of monthly listener numbers.

Commercial Radio Australia has revealed the Australian Podcast Ranker will now include listener and download figures by podcast title for the first time when the August report is released next week.

The radio body is seeking to provide greater insights on podcast consumption to assist with advertiser investment decisions and help accelerate commercialisation.

The August Australian Podcast Ranker, to be released on September 14, will feature the new format in reporting on the top 100 most popular podcasts in Australia ranked by listeners.

The Top 100 and the Top 10 Publisher lists (based on participating publishers) will also be ranked in order of monthly listener numbers.

“This new level of transparency will provide consistent and universal audience and frequency metrics for podcasting and will boost advertiser confidence in investing in this channel,” CRA CEO Joan Warner said.

The results of the Australian Podcast Ranker are verified and reported by Triton Digital and participation is open to all Australian and international podcast publishers.

John Lynch, Omnicon Media Group’s Head of Out of Home and Audio partnerships and a member of the CRA Podcast Committee, said: “The updated podcast ranker allows agencies and clients to make more informed decisions around investment into podcasting. We welcome the changes and believe that it can only help to instill greater confidence in this growing area to the benefit of the industry.”