Podcast listening is on the rise in Canada, with a new report from Triton Digital detailing how quickly the medium is seeing gains. It says podcast listening has increased 4% since 2023, led by English-speaking Canadians. Triton’s third annual Canadian Podcast Report says overall monthly podcast listening has increased to 39%, up from 27% in 2020 as the typical user of the medium consumes four shows a week and averages eight episodes.
The data shows nearly half — 47% — of English-speaking Canadians listen to podcasts monthly. That is nearly double the 24% rate of French speakers, where the data shows there was actually a dip in overall consumption last year after four years of steady gains.
Similar to the U.S., the monthly podcast listener in Canada is younger, more educated and more affluent compared to the population overall. Triton says Canadians 18 to 34 are 65-times more likely to listen to a podcast each month vs. the population as a whole. They are also 30 times more likely to have attended college and 14 times more likely to earn more than $100,000 per year.
The past year in Canada has seen a new most-used platform emerge for podcast consumption. Triton says its data shows YouTube is now the platform most often used, with 35% of Canadians using the video streamer the most. That is up from 28% two years ago when the first report was released. The data suggests YouTube is pulling listeners away from both Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as each saw their numbers dip in the past year. Spotify slid from 31%, saying it was their top pick, to 28%. Apple Podcasts is the go-to for 15% of those surveyed, down a point from a year earlier.
Triton says nearly half (49%) of the listeners who use YouTube are new listeners of podcasts in the past year. But many others are veterans of the medium. More than four in ten (43%) who say YouTube is the app they use the most have been listening to podcasts for the past two to five years.
There are differences among the users, however. Apple Podcast listeners remain the most educated and affluent and are most likely to earn more than $100,000 per year. But Triton says Spotify and YouTube are gaining ground.
In terms of which Canadians are using which app, Triton says Spotify skews younger while Apple Podcasts has the most older listeners. YouTube is seeing its biggest gains with the demo in between. And in terms of gender, both Apple Podcasts and Spotify are evenly split, but YouTube has a male lean. Triton says 55% of Canadians who say YouTube is their top pick are men.
News leads the genres for the most downloads in Canada, according to Triton, followed by True Crime and Comedy. It also points out that while News and Sports podcasts typically see their episodes quickly consumed after release, True Crime and Education series attract more downloads to their back catalog.
Triton’s Canadian Podcast Report is based on data covering April 2024 to March 2025. The analysis includes shows and podcast networks measured using Triton’s Podcast Metrics service, which aggregates server log data from Triton’s Omny Studio platform and other leading industry hosts.
Download the full report HERE.