Time once more to take a look at the nebulously-ranked world of podcasts. This month's list differs slightly from last month's list of top-ranked kids and family podcasts. For the most part, the order is the same, and 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 month. (So, too, is the general placement of the most highly-ranked podcasts here within the "all podcasts" chart. What is a continued improvement is the number of podcasts on one of the two lists, 28 -- the same as last month, but 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 Wednesday, August 17, 2016. Podcasts that appear on both charts are listed with numbers; remaining podcasts only appeared on one list.) I will also note that it's subject to considerable sway by a single high-profile article or event. For example, after this Popsugar article on 15 podcasts for families came out after my research, the rankings of several podcasts that made the list jumped significantly so that 6 of the top 10 podcasts on iTunes were listed below (compared to 2-4 at other times) and OWTK's Kid's Music Monthly, which wasn't on the top 200, jumped to 27.
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. Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified
4. Storynory
5. Tumble
6. Story Pirates
7. Story Time
8. Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
Others (listed alphabetically): 1001 Classic Short Stories and Tales, Activated Stories, Audio Books for Children, Barefoot Books, But Why, Children's Fun Storytime, Cramazingly Incredifun Sugarcrash Kids, Ear Snacks, Family Folk Tales, Goop Tales; Little Stories for Tiny People, Molly and the Sugar Monster, Official Adventures in Odyssey, Podcast Kid, Radio Adventures of Doctor Floyd, The Secret Diaries of Tara Tremendous, Short & Curly, Sparkle Stories, The Story Home, That Story Show
