Australian podcast ranker reveals unusual genre choices of footy fans in September 2025 results

Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) is flagging distinct cultural markers across AFL's avid fans with history, society & culture topping the list alongside sport.

The data came as part of the latest September Australian Podcast Ranker, executed in collaboration with Triton Digital. For September 2025, the top five podcast genres were identified as News, Society & Culture, Sports, True Crime, and Comedy. News led the rankings with 5 130 227,00 monthly listeners, followed by Society & Culture with 4 523 938,00 listeners. Sports attracted 3 847 098,00 listeners, while True Crime and Comedy had 2 879 395,00 and 2 767 174,00 listeners, respectively.

In terms of individual podcasts, 'Hamish & Andy' from LiSTNR topped the list with 813 500,00 monthly listeners. 'ABC News Top Stories' from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation followed closely with 767 032,00 listeners. 'Mamamia Out Loud' from Mamamia garnered 563 785,00 listeners, while 'Shameless' from Shameless Media attracted 537 803,00 listeners. 'Sky News Australia Update' from News Corp Australia rounded out the top five with 484 254,00 listeners.

Demos+ data released also provides further insights into the preferences of sports fans post AFL and NRL grand finals. AFL fans show a strong preference for Sports podcasts, with 49,60 % of them consuming content in this genre. History and Society & Culture are also popular among AFL fans, with 32 % and 30,30 % respectively. Meanwhile, NRL fans consume Sports podcasts at a rate of 37,70 %, with Music and Technology also being popular, attracting 27,40 % and 25,30 % of listeners, respectively.

The data also reveals that AFL fans' top five genres include News and Technology, both at 30,20 %. For NRL fans, Business and Comedy are among the top five genres, each with 23,30 % of listeners.

Lizzie Young, CEO of CRA, commented on the significance of the ranker: "The Podcast Ranker delivers what every advertiser needs: certainty. Verified data showing exactly who's listening, what they care about, and how to reach them when they're most receptive."

Grant Tothill, Executive Head of LiSTNR Operations and Audience, highlighted the performance of Hamish & Andy as indicative of another solid month of podcast performance for the network. Other strong shows were Dan Does Footy, The Imperfects and Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki, which all featured in the Top 20 podcasts of the All Australian Triton Top 300.