Podcasts on YouTube Study

Key takeaways

1. 74 of Apple's top 100 U.S. podcasts post full episodes on YouTube: at least two of their ten latest feed episodes were on YouTube within four days, at 75% or more of the audio's length (our measurement). See details
2. 14 of those 74 gave most full episodes a different title on YouTube than in the feed, so we could only match them by runtime and release date. See details
3. 1 show posts only clips, and for 25 we could not match a YouTube channel after checking each show's feed, website, Wikidata entry and a YouTube search. See details
4. 70 of the 100 RSS feeds link to YouTube somewhere in the show or episode notes and 46 show websites link to a YouTube channel; 30 feeds carry no YouTube link at all. See details
5. Full episodes go up on YouTube a median of 1.1 hours from the audio release; 67 of 74 shows post both within a day. See details
6. YouTube says more than 1 billion people a month watch podcasts on it, its own figure from February 2025. See details

How many top podcasts post full episodes on YouTube?

We took Apple's top 100 U.S. podcasts (Apple chart, read October 30, 2026) and checked each show's ten latest episodes against its YouTube channel. 74 of the 100 post full episodes on YouTube: at least two of their ten latest episodes went up within four days of the feed release, running at least 75% of the audio's length. Shows on YouTube had a median of 210,000 subscribers.

Do podcasts use the same titles on YouTube?

Often not. For 14 of the 74 shows that post full episodes, most of the full episodes we matched carried a different title on YouTube than in the feed, so we could only pair them by runtime and release date on the show's own channel. A feed title such as "1074. Andy & DJ CTI: ..." became a question or a hook on YouTube.

Which shows post only clips, or nothing?

1 show runs a YouTube channel with clips but no full episodes, and for 25 we could not match a YouTube channel: fewer than two of their ten latest episodes turned up, by title or runtime, on any channel we found. That includes all 3 NPR shows in the chart. Clips we matched, on any channel, ran a median of 1.0 minutes.

Do podcast feeds point listeners to YouTube?

Most feeds do, somewhere. 70 of 100 RSS feeds carry a YouTube link in the show or episode notes, and 46 show websites link to a YouTube channel. That leaves 30 feeds where a listener in a podcast app has no pointer to the video version.

How soon do full episodes reach YouTube?

For the 74 shows we could time, the YouTube upload came a median of 1.1 hours from the audio release in the feed; 67 posted both within a day, and 5 usually put the video up first. YouTube versions run a median 100% of the audio's length.

Which genres post full episodes?

Among genres with at least five shows in the chart:

How big is podcast watching on YouTube?

YouTube says more than 1 billion people a month watch podcast content on it, and that viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts a month on TV screens in 2024 (YouTube). Those are the company's own figures. Since August 24, 2026, YouTube counts a view from the first frame (YouTube Help), so view counts on podcast uploads are not comparable with earlier ones; this study does not rely on them.

What this means for podcasters

• Full episodes are the norm at the top. Most of the biggest shows treat YouTube as a second home for the whole episode, not a trailer channel.
• Link the video version. 30 of the top 100 feeds carry no YouTube link; a line in the show notes costs nothing.
• Same-day release is standard. The shows that post full episodes mostly post them the day the audio goes out.
• The feed title is not the YouTube title. 14 of the 74 full-episode shows rewrite most titles for YouTube, where the title competes with thumbnails in search and recommendations.

Mark Studios edits video podcasts, full episodes and clips, for shows of every size; see video editing for podcasters. Our video podcast statistics collect the market figures.

How we ran the study

Shows. Apple's top 100 U.S. podcasts chart (Apple Marketing Tools) read October 30, 2026; each show's feed URL and genre from the iTunes Lookup API.

Finding the channel. In order: a YouTube channel ID on the show's Wikidata entry (P2397), channel and video links in the feed and on the show's website, handles guessed from the show's name, then the top three results of a YouTube channel search for the show's name. A candidate counts only when its uploads match the show's episodes.

Matching episodes. The ten latest feed episodes against each candidate channel's 50 latest uploads (YouTube Data API), read November 1 to November 2, 2026. A match is an upload within four days of the feed date with a similar title (60% word overlap) or, only on a channel named for the show, its host or its publisher, a runtime within 3% (or 2 minutes) of an episode of 20 minutes or more. At least 75% of the episode's length makes it a full episode; shorter matches are clips. Two or more full matches count as posting full episodes.

Limitations

• One chart, one week. Apple's chart reflects recent follower growth, not all-time size, and shifts weekly.
• A missed channel counts as none. A show that posts under an unrelated channel name with no link anywhere may be counted as having no channel.
• Fifty uploads. A channel that posts many Shorts and clips a day can push full episodes out of its 50 latest uploads, and we would miss them.
• Runtime matching. Pairing by runtime is limited to the show's own channel, because on busy network channels unrelated videos of the same length turned up.

How to cite this study

Link to the section you use, for example https://www.markstudios.com/research/podcasts-on-youtube-study#full-episodes. To cite the study as a whole:

Mark Studios. "Podcasts on YouTube Study." Published November 2, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/podcasts-on-youtube-study

@misc{markstudios_podcasts_on_youtube_study_2026,
  author = {{Mark Studios}},
  title = {{Podcasts on YouTube Study}},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/podcasts-on-youtube-study},
  note = {Last verified 2026-11-02}
}

Our measurements and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.

Sources

Download the per-show data (CSV)

Widely quoted video statistics on other topics are traced to their origin, with a verdict on each, in our research fact-check.

1. YouTube Official Blog, Drop the mic: Celebrating 1 billion monthly podcast users on YouTube. Accessed 2026-11-02.
2. Apple, Apple Marketing Tools: top podcasts feed (U.S.). Accessed 2026-11-02.
3. Apple, iTunes Search API (Lookup). Accessed 2026-11-02.
4. Wikidata, Property P2397: YouTube channel ID. Accessed 2026-11-02.
5. Google for Developers, YouTube Data API: Videos. Accessed 2026-11-02.
6. YouTube Help, How engagement metrics are counted. Accessed 2026-11-02.

Update policy and change log

We plan to rerun the check against later charts. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.

• November 2, 2026: First published.