Apple Podcasts was named the main app for listening to podcasts by only 10% of weekly listeners in Britain, according to the study The UK Podcast Consumer 2026 by Edison Research. Ahead of it were YouTube with 29%, Spotify with 28% and the public broadcaster BBC Sounds with 15%.
Graeme Smith, who leads the audio and video studio 7th Planet and works as an executive producer, summed this up in one sentence in his LinkedIn post. “But over at Apple, they didn't lose distribution. They lost relevance,” he wrote. Apple keeps its distribution role, but the audience is listening elsewhere.
Downloads and listening show a different order
In downloads, Apple still comes out on top. According to data from the OP3 platform, processed by Podnews, Apple Podcasts accounts for 37.5% of all British downloads, and Spotify for 31.7%. The discrepancy between the two views is methodological. Downloads do not measure listening on YouTube, on Spotify video or on BBC Sounds, which is exactly where attention has moved. The download figure describes where the RSS infrastructure lies, not where people actually listen to podcasts.
For Apple this is not a survival question. Podcasts are a rounding error in its revenue. Smith therefore points elsewhere. “It's the principle: the home of podcasting sitting at this level of listener relevance, this is a threat to their prestige,” he writes. What is at risk is the prestige of the medium's founder, not its balance sheet.
Public broadcaster BBC Sounds has overtaken Apple
The study's most striking figure does not belong to a technology company. For a large share of Britons, the main listening app is BBC Sounds, the service of the public broadcaster BBC, which has left Apple behind. This is not down to an algorithm or hardware, but to programming and the trust of the audience. For European public broadcasters, from Český rozhlas to Germany's ARD, this is concrete evidence that a proprietary listening app with good content can hold its own alongside global platforms.
Apple bets on video and ads within it
Apple responded to its weakening position. In February 2026 it launched a native video beta on Apple Podcasts, built on HLS streaming technology. It includes dynamic insertion of video advertising, including read ads, and Apple charges nothing for distribution, collecting a fee for impressions from the ad networks instead.
Smith, who experienced the launch from the creator side, describes it as the right diagnosis with clumsy execution. The approach ran through a small number of selected hosting partners and arrived at a time when, in his view, the costs of video-first production had risen sharply. “95% of the money flows to the top 1% of shows,” he notes about the concentration of revenue, which he says the shift to video has only highlighted. In his view the remedy will not come through marketing. “It needs a root-and-branch infrastructure review, Spotify-level investment in talent and content, and real products that let creators monetise,” he concludes.
Canada shows the same contradiction
The British case is not an isolated one. In the fourth edition of the Canadian Podcast Report from Triton Digital, Apple Podcasts holds 49% of new-episode downloads, with Spotify second at 19%. The most used listening platform there, however, is also YouTube, which 40% of monthly listeners named as their main app. Monthly podcast reach in Canada has meanwhile grown to 46%. Apple leads in infrastructure, while attention is held by someone else.
For the European market, the practical lesson is clear. Many advertisers and platforms here read the podcast market through downloads, a metric in which Apple looks like number one. Edison Research's listening data shows a different order and a different winner in listening. Anyone who plans podcast budgets by downloads is measuring distribution, not audience.
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