YouTube has turn into the high podcast platform in the UK, surpassing Spotify for the first time on report, in accordance to Edison Analysis. Amongst weekly podcast listeners aged 15 and over, 29% now cite YouTube as their most well-liked service, in contrast to 28% for Spotify.
The one-point hole is fairly small, and Edison describes the consequence as a primary “on report” quite than a confirmed new development. Edison Analysis at SSRS previewed YouTube’s speedy rise to turn into the high podcast service in the UK, forward of a extra detailed report anticipated later this month.
What the Knowledge Reveals
Edison’s trend data reveals YouTube’s development in the UK over 4 key intervals. In 2023, YouTube held 19% of the main platform share, growing modestly to 20% in 2024, then rising to 25% in 2025, and reaching 29% in the first quarter of 2026. In the meantime, Spotify’s share declined over the identical timeframe, beginning at 33% in 2023, barely growing to 34% in 2024, then dropping to 30% in 2025, and at last down to 28% presently.
BBC Sounds is the third most-used service, with 15% in the present studying, sustaining that share from 2024 and 2025, after 13% in 2023. Apple Podcasts holds 10%, a lower from 12% in 2023. The remaining apps are grouped into an “Different” class, which makes up 18%.
Edison Podcast Metrics UK is primarily based on interviews with 8,000 UK podcast listeners aged 15 and over annually. Edison did not disclose the pattern dimension behind the Q1 2026 studying.
The US Crossover Got here First
YouTube reached the high of the US podcast rankings about two years before the UK. In Edison’s US reading from October 2024, YouTube took 31% of primary-platform share amongst weekly podcast listeners aged 13 and over, towards Spotify’s 27% and Apple Podcasts’ 15%. Edison tied a lot of the US transfer to youthful listeners and video, reporting that 84% of Gen Z month-to-month podcast listeners ever hear to or watch podcasts with a video part.
SEJ has coated how YouTube reported more than one billion monthly active viewers of podcast content and have become the platform People use most. The UK studying extends that very same video-native sample to a second main market.
Why Edison Says the UK Trailed the US
Edison points to the UK’s public-media presence as a potential purpose YouTube climbed extra slowly in the UK than in the US. BBC Sounds attracts 15% of UK podcast customers as their principal service, a stage Edison says has no equal amongst US public-media podcast choices. A UK listener selecting amongst YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and BBC Sounds weighs a distinct set of choices than a US listener selecting amongst the first three, which Edison offers as a part of why the two markets moved at completely different speeds.
Why This Issues
The UK now appears to be like like the US did two years in the past, and the course of Edison’s development line issues greater than the one-point margin. For a present deciding the place to make its principal house, YouTube is now the platform the largest share of UK weekly listeners identify.
BBC Sounds is the caveat whenever you evaluate the UK with the US. A UK plan constructed on American platform-share assumptions understates how a lot of the home viewers sits with a public-service choice the US market doesn’t have. The Edison knowledge offers a UK-focused present a purpose to spend money on video, so long as that BBC Sounds share stays in the mannequin.
Wanting Forward
Edison will host a webinar on July 16, 2026, at 2pm BST and 9am EDT to current the full UK Podcast Consumer 2026 report. The session can even discover UK viewers opinions on AI in podcasting, which shall be of curiosity as soon as the knowledge is publicly accessible.
The lead is one level, and Spotify has slipped from 34% in 2024 to 28% now whereas YouTube’s positive aspects have held throughout the collection. The subsequent studying will present whether or not the order holds past this primary crossover.
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