It's time once more to take a look at the nebulously-ranked world of podcasts, this time for December. (Here is October's list of top-ranked kids and family podcasts. No, there was not a November list.)
There was definitely a little movement in the list this time around, with some new entries, although the rankings of these particular podcasts within the "kids and family" charts in the iTunes and Stitcher kids and family charts are generally in the same range as last time.
As with last month, none of the podcasts ranked here ranked within the "all podcasts" chart on iTunes, and even the number of podcasts on one of the two lists dipped to 28, down from the all-time high of 29, though still up from 22 in June.
As always: this is a blunt instrument, combining pure rankings from two fairly opaque charts, and for a variety of reasons has only marginal value as a measure of quality. (Results compiled from Top 100 podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher "kids and family" charts on Thursday, December 1, 2016. Podcasts that appear on both charts are listed with numbers; remaining podcasts only appeared on one list.) In this particular month, the hybrid nature of the chart probably penalizes what may be the most popular podcast, the brand-new Disney Story Central podcast. It's only available on iTunes, and can't chart on Stitcher. So: grain of salt noted.
Two other reminders:
1. If you're looking for a list that has most (or all) of these podcasts, check out my comprehensive list of podcasts for kids.
2. If you're interested in the future of podcasts for kids, you might be interested in Kids Listen, a grassroots organization of podcasters and folks like me interested in helping high-quality audio for children thrive. We're looking for other interested folks -- producers or otherwise -- to join in!
With that out of the way, let's get to the chart.
1. Stories Podcast
2. Brains On
3. Storynory
4. The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian
5. Tumble
6. The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel
7. Story Time
8. Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified
9. Story Pirates
10. Spare the Rock Spoil the Chld
11. But Why?
12. The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
13. The Cramazingly Incredifun Sugarcrash Kids Podcast
Others (listed alphabetically): 1001 Classic Short Stories and Tales, Activated Stories, Book Club for Kids, Children Stories and Joyful, Children's Fun Storytime, Disney Story Central, Family Folk Tales, Little Stories for Tiny People, Molly and the Sugar Monster, Official Adventures in Odyssey, Podcast Kid, Shabam!, Short and Curly, Sparkle Stories, The Story Home