With more than 500,000 shows in the Apple Podcasts directory, it has never been more important to cut through the clutter and stand out from the crowd.

And if you want to stand out from the crowd, it helps to know what the crowd looks like.

To that end, I analyzed ~390,000 shows in the Apple Podcasts directory to measure which primary categories have the most shows. Here’s what I found:

Christianity, Music, and Comedy are the most crowded primary categories. Interestingly, the top 3 categories in 2018 look a lot like the top 3 categories in 2015, when Josh Morgan performed a similar analysis of the iTunes directory.

Remember, Apple lets you list your show in multiple secondary categories, but you only get to select one primary category. If your show’s content straddles more than one, I hope this chart can help you make a smart decision about which primary category to choose.

For example, my pals Sarah and CJ recently launched a show called Home Cooked, all about the intersection of food, family history, and culture. Given the nature of the show, they could have listed it under Society & Culture or Personal Journals.

Instead, they made the smart choice to list it under Arts: Food. Not only is this a much more specific category, but it’s also way less crowded, representing just 0.5% of the entire Apple Podcasts directory. I’m not surprised Home Cooked has remained on the Canadian food charts since it launched.

If you want to compete in a sparsely-populated category, pay close attention to the bottom of the list. Government & Organizations: Regional, Games & Hobbies: Aviation, and Business: Shopping seem like good places to hang out (stay tuned for my new hobby podcast: How To Buy a Regional Airline).

If you’re trying to decide between two different podcast categories, and both seem like a good fit… pick the less-crowded one.

Which categories have the most episodes?

In addition to “Top Shows,” Apple also maintains a “Top Episodes” list. Another way to think about crowdedness is to look at episode counts.

Let’s look at a list of Apple’s categories, by total number of episodes:

Once again, Christianity, Music, and Comedy are the top three categories.

There’s something staggering happening at the very top of the list. Collectively, shows with a primary category of Christianity have nearly three times the number of episodes as Music or Comedy. Not only is Christianity the most crowded category by number of shows, it’s also by far the most crowded category by number of episodes.

Which brings up the question: which categories produce the highest number of episodes per series, on average? I listed all of Apple’s categories by the mean number of episodes per series, and here’s what I found:

A few Religion & Spirituality subcategories dominate here. Setting aside the total number of series, religious categories are home to some of the most prolific shows in Apple Podcasts.

Remember

• If you want to stand out from the crowd, understand the crowd.
• Your podcast’s primary category matters. Not only is it part of your show’s product packaging, it also determines the company you keep within Apple’s ecosystem.
• Whenever possible, choose a specific subcategory (Society & Culture: Personal Journals instead of Society & Culture) as your show’s primary category.
• Crowdedness applies to both the number of shows within a category and the number of episodes in a category.
• Choose your primary podcast category wisely. Don’t forget to consider how crowded your chosen category is.

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