That Peter Crouch Podcast is UK’s favourite sports podcast
The That Peter Crouch Podcast is officially the UK’s favourite sports podcast, brand new research reveals.
The show, which has recently returned for a 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 has taken a look at the podcast charts at the start of 2021 to reveal which are really 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.
The results show that That Peter Crouch Podcast, comes out as the nation’s favourite podcast. Indeed 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.
However, 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.
However, overall 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 says:
“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”
To see the full results on the analysis, visit: https://www.olbg.com/blogs/
| Overall ranking | Publisher | Name | Sport |
| 1 | BBC Radio 5 live | That Peter Crouch Podcast | Football |
| 2 | The Guardian | Football Weekly | Football |
| 3 | BBC Radio 5 live | Football Daily | Football |
| 4 | Muddy Knees Media | The Totally Football Show with James Richardson | Football |
| 5 | The Rugby Pod | The Rugby Pod | Rugby |
| 6 | The Good, the Bad and the Rugby | The Good, The Bad & The Rugby | Rugby |
| 7 | BBC Radio 5 live | Test Match Special | Cricket |
| 8 | Clyde 1 | Superscoreboard | Football |
| 9 | BBC Radio 5 live | Tailenders | Cricket |
| 10 | Buzz 16 Productions | The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher | Football |
