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Thought Leadership December 2025: ORBIT Rankings and Insights on the Top 15 Performing OG Podcasts
The advertising industry often confuses newness with value. Buyers and publishers alike obsess over the latest celebrity launch or breakout chart-topper. But the data tells a different story about where the real return on ad spend lives.

 

ORBIT isolates performance using actual campaign data from over 500 advertisers and $1.6 billion in annual spend. We ignore vanity metrics to identify the inventory that actually converts.

 

This month, we analyzed the staying power of the “OGs.”

 

December 2025 ORBIT Rankings

Below are the Top 15 Performing OG Podcasts (shows that began publishing before March 2020), ranked by advertiser results over the past 12 months.

They built loyal audiences before podcasting became a gold rush. They still outperform the new class.

Top 15 Performing OG Podcasts (shows originally released before March 2020) from the Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool - December 2025

December 2025 ORBIT Insights

• Execution Outlasts Hype: 75% of today’s top performers launched before the pandemic. Their longevity is not due to the “heat” of their genre in 2015. It comes from consistent, exceptional production. Plan your media buy around shows that have proven they know how to retain an audience, rather than shows simply riding a current trend.

• The Brand Tax Is Real: Buying fame is expensive. One famous show, whose name we’ll leave out, costs nearly 19 times more per drop than Critical Role, yet the latter delivers superior conversion results. High-profile names charge a premium for brand association. Savvy buyers look for the shows that may be undervalued due to less buzz, but generate greater results.

• Loyalty Compounds: OG shows carry a 12% efficiency premium. Multi-year listener relationships create a defensive moat that new entrants cannot replicate quickly. In a market fragmented across five million feeds, deep history lowers discovery costs and increases stickiness.

• Genre Diversity at the Top: This month’s Top 15 spans 9 different genres, ranging from Leisure to True Crime to Alternative Health. There is no single winning category. There are only shows that have built high-trust environments. Focus on the relationship the host has with the listener, not the category tag on the RSS feed.

 “This data proves what we all know in our hearts: trust deepens over time. Time-tested content may not have the same wow factor as the hottest new podcast, but the hosts have years of relational capital built up with their audience. This translates into higher conversion rates and better LTV.” – Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road
Unlock past ORBIT insights

 

How ORBIT Works (And Why It’s Different)

ORBIT normalizes performance across different advertiser goals, whether that’s target CAC, desired ROAS, or cost per qualified lead. This allows direct comparison across campaign types, something download-based rankings can’t provide.

The difference:
Many tracking tools tell you who’s advertising and estimate spend, count ad occurrences, or measure downloads and reach.

ORBIT shows which podcasts made money and which ones didn’t.
We factor in what advertisers paid, what they were trying to achieve, how it was measured, including survey-based attribution data, and whether the investment delivered ROI. That’s the difference between counting impressions and measuring profit.

Our methodology:

  • Minimum 3 distinct advertisers per show
  • Minimum 3 paid drops per advertiser
  • At least 50% of placements must exceed advertiser goals
  • 12-month rolling analysis updated monthly
  • Attribution-normalized across pixels, codes, URLs, and modeling

 

For Advertisers

ORBIT eliminates guesswork from podcast planning:

  • De-risk initial buys by seeing which shows have proven track records with similar advertisers
  • Optimize faster with normalized performance data across attribution models
  • Find hidden gems before they become expensive tier-1 shows
  • Break category assumptions with data that shows where your customers actually listen
  • Scale with confidence, knowing which placements consistently deliver ROI

The era of buying podcast ads based on download numbers is over. ORBIT shows you which shows drive performance, before you spend a dollar.

 

Subscribe to The Influencer for monthly ORBIT updates

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ORBIT: The Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool

Here’s What $1.6 Billion in Performance Data Actually Reveals.

The first podcast rankings based on ROI, not downloads. Built on real campaign results from hundreds of advertisers.

 

After more than a decade of development, Oxford Road is unveiling ORBIT: a first-of-its-kind Benchmark Intelligence Tool built on real campaign outcomes from across the industry.

ORBIT aggregates over $1.6 billion in verified podcast spend, across hundreds of advertisers and 120+ genres, then normalizes it into one question: What actually worked?

It doesn’t tell you which podcasts are popular. It tells you which ones drive ROI. Which ones convert. Which ones are worth the check you’re about to write.

October 2025 ORBIT Rankings

Below are the Top 15 Performing Podcasts in October 2025, ranked by advertiser results over the previous 12 months.
These are the shows that consistently outperformed benchmarks and delivered measurable ROI.

What ORBIT Reveals

• Big reach ≠ big results: Joe Rogan and most tier-1 mega-shows didn’t crack the Top 15. Only 3 of the top performers (20%) are household-name podcasts. Advertisers systematically overpay for reach while ignoring shows that deliver better returns.

• Comedy and politics dominate. 11 of the top 15 performers are comedy or news/politics shows—the exact categories many advertisers deliberately avoid due to brand safety concerns. Controversial content, when aligned with brand values, drives action.

• Stop buying your own industry. We tested it: Tech companies don’t perform better on tech podcasts. Finance brands don’t win on business shows. There’s no statistically significant lift from matching your industry to your genre. Your customers listen to the same shows everyone else does: comedy, true crime, politics. The genre silo is costing you discoveries.

• Faith-based shows overperform. Religious podcasts, particularly Christianity-focused content, rank in the top 6 genres for consistent ROI across multiple verticals—a finding impossible to surface without normalized, goal-based data

 

How ORBIT Works (And Why It’s Different)

ORBIT normalizes performance across different advertiser goals—whether that’s target CAC, desired ROAS, or cost per qualified lead. This allows direct comparison across campaign types, something download-based rankings can’t provide.

The difference:
Many tracking tools tell you who’s advertising and estimate spend, count ad occurrences, or measure downloads and reach

ORBIT shows which podcasts made money and which ones didn’t.
We factor in what advertisers paid, what they were trying to achieve, how it was measured, including survey-based attribution data, and whether the investment delivered ROI. That’s the difference between counting impressions and measuring profit.

Our methodology:

  • Minimum 3 distinct advertisers per show
  • Minimum 3 paid drops per advertiser
  • At least 50% of placements must exceed advertiser goals
  • 12-month rolling analysis updated monthly
  • Attribution-normalized across pixels, codes, URLs, and modeling

 

For Chief Audio Officers

ORBIT eliminates guesswork from podcast planning:

  • De-risk initial buys by seeing which shows have proven track records with similar advertisers
  • Optimize faster with normalized performance data across attribution models
  • Find hidden gems before they become expensive tier-1 shows
  • Break category assumptions with data that shows where your customers actually listen
  • Scale with confidence, knowing which placements consistently deliver ROI

The era of buying podcast ads based on download numbers is over. ORBIT shows you which shows drive performance, before you spend a dollar.

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”
— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road

 

Subscribe to The Influencer for monthly ORBIT updates

November 2025: ORBIT Rankings and Insights on the Top 15 Performing Comedy Podcasts

ORBIT ranks podcasts by actual advertiser performance, not exposure or vanity metrics. Built on real campaign data across 500+ advertisers managing $1.6 Billion+ in annual spend.

 

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Comedy’s #1 in advertiser investment. But ROI shows some funny business.

 

November 2025 ORBIT Rankings

Below are the Top 15 Performing Comedy Podcasts, ranked by advertiser results over the past 12 months.
These are the shows that consistently outperformed benchmarks and delivered measurable ROI.

Top 15 Performing Comedy Podcasts - November 2025

November 2025 ORBIT Insights

  • Laughter, Not the Best Medicine: Comedy claims the most ad spend, but as a genre, performance is in the bottom tier. So why the outsized investment? It may be due to brand safety concerns, where Comedy appears to be a safer option for scaling over, say, Politics and Government. Stop treating Comedy as a safe default. It’s a sophisticated category that requires real expertise.

  • The Best vs. The Rest: While the genre is soft overall, the top 15 Comedy podcasts boast elite-tier performance. These shows represent distinct comedy styles and formats, from advice to game shows. The takeaway? There are no guarantees in Comedy performance, but there are plenty of ways to turn funny into money.

  • Category Matters: Not all Comedy advertisers are created equal. High-spend categories, like gambling and shopping, actually underperform, while premium lifestyle brands excel. The lesson: comedy can offer a great ROI as long as there’s audience fit and you don’t overspend.

  • The Summer Slump: Scaling Comedy spend? Take the Summer off. In 3 of the last 4 complete years (2021, 2023, 2024), Q3 performance was weakest. Instead, use Q2/Q3 learning, testing, and incremental optimization, then scale in Q1, where performance has historically been best.

Unlock past ORBIT insights

 

How ORBIT Works (And Why It’s Different)

ORBIT normalizes performance across different advertiser goals—whether that’s target CAC, desired ROAS, or cost per qualified lead. This allows direct comparison across campaign types, something download-based rankings can’t provide.

The difference:
Many tracking tools tell you who’s advertising and estimate spend, count ad occurrences, or measure downloads and reach.

ORBIT shows which podcasts made money and which ones didn’t.
We factor in what advertisers paid, what they were trying to achieve, how it was measured, including survey-based attribution data, and whether the investment delivered ROI. That’s the difference between counting impressions and measuring profit.

Our methodology:

  • Minimum 3 distinct advertisers per show
  • Minimum 3 paid drops per advertiser
  • At least 50% of placements must exceed advertiser goals
  • 12-month rolling analysis updated monthly
  • Attribution-normalized across pixels, codes, URLs, and modeling

 

For Chief Audio Officers

ORBIT eliminates guesswork from podcast planning:

  • De-risk initial buys by seeing which shows have proven track records with similar advertisers
  • Optimize faster with normalized performance data across attribution models
  • Find hidden gems before they become expensive tier-1 shows
  • Break category assumptions with data that shows where your customers actually listen
  • Scale with confidence, knowing which placements consistently deliver ROI

The era of buying podcast ads based on download numbers is over. ORBIT shows you which shows drive performance, before you spend a dollar.

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”
— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road

 

Subscribe to The Influencer for monthly ORBIT updates
george costanza