Commercial Radio & Audio and Triton Digital have expanded the Australian Podcast Ranker with new behavioural audience tools, as Mamamia Out Loud tops the country’s most-listened-to podcast charts in February.
The monthly ranker, described as Australia’s only official third-party-verified podcast measurement system, now includes a new Demos+ Top Indexing Programs by Audience Composition tool to help advertisers identify podcasts performing strongly with specific consumer groups.
The update sits alongside an expanded Demos+ Category Ranker, which now includes four times as much audience characteristic data as previously available.
Audience planning moves beyond age and gender
The new data allows planners to target audiences based on behaviours including spending patterns, travel frequency, fitness engagement, household income and property intent, alongside existing gender, age and location metrics.
Lizzie Young, CEO of CRA, said the changes reflect the evolution of podcast buying.
“Podcasting has matured rapidly in Australia. The expansion of Demos+ data moves advertisers beyond age and gender-based audio strategies – into a greater view of the behaviours, intentions and spending patterns that drive campaign outcomes. Unlocking the right podcast environment to reach their desired audience.”
The new datasets are available through Triton’s Demos+ dashboard.
Finance and lifestyle audiences emerge as key targets
According to the latest audience insights, more than one in five monthly podcast listeners plan to seek financial advice this year.
Among that group, health and fitness ranked as the top genre, reaching 29.9% of listeners, narrowly ahead of business at 29.4%.
CRA said 39.2% of that same audience also plans to make a gym or fitness purchase this year, suggesting crossover between financial planning and lifestyle reset behaviours.
For listeners planning to buy an investment property, nearly 40% identify as senior decision-makers, while Kids & Family ranked second at 20.7%.
News remains Australia’s top genre
News continued to lead podcast listening in February, reaching 5.22 million monthly listeners.
It was followed by Society & Culture (3.88 million listeners), Comedy (2.59 million), Sports (2.53 million), and True Crime (2.42 million).
Mamamia Out Loud from Mamamia led the monthly chart with 982,235 listeners.
Second was ABC News Top Stories from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with 518,826 listeners.
Third was Sky News Australia Update from News Corp Australia with 474,219 listeners.
MAFS Funny Podcast and The Update, both from Nova Entertainment, rounded out the top five.
LiSTNR responds
Stephen Haddad, CEO of Southern Cross Media Group, said the February ranker also reinforced LiSTNR’s strength in the commercial podcast market.
“Today’s February Triton Podcast Ranker results highlight LiSTNR’s continued leadership as Australia’s premier commercial podcast network, driven by trusted talent and deep audience engagement,” Haddad said.
“With more titles in the Top 20 than any other publisher, LiSTNR’s standout performers include Life Uncut (up 2 positions) with 383,344 monthly listeners, The Imperfects (up 10) with 309,234, and Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki (up 12 positions) with 268,185.”
Haddad said the momentum also extended across multiple titles showing month-on-month growth, including Big Small Talk, The Rush Hour with JB & Billy, CommSec Market Update, KICPOD and The Levels Podcast.
He also pointed to new entries including KICBump and Kiss and Kill from Seven Network.
“As a publisher, LiSTNR continued to deliver strong year-on-year growth across its owned and operated titles, while leading podcast revenue across the broader national podcast market within the CRA member group,” he said.
Haddad added that upcoming releases are expected to further strengthen LiSTNR’s 2026 performance.
“With Hamish & Andy returning to the March ranker with new episodes following their ‘Government mandated break’, The Inspired Unemployed Podcast set to debut in April, and continued growth across radio podcasts and originals, LiSTNR is well placed to continue its momentum in driving audiences and revenue in 2026.”
Top Image: Mamamia