Why experts say this election showed the power of podcasts

In the weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were everywhere. Not just at rallies in battleground states or in political ads and interviews on our TV screens, which we’ve become accustomed to.

Their voices were also in our ears like never before.

Trump appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, the biggest podcast in the U.S., as well as other shows. The Rogan episode was also posted to YouTube, where it has over 46 million views. To appeal to women voters, Harris visited SiriusXM's Call Her Daddy, the most-listened to podcast by women.

“2024 will be remembered as the Podcast Election,” said Steve Johnston, the former COO of FlexPoint Media, in a post on X. “Not because podcasts are new (they’re not), but because 2024 was the first time presidential nominees and their running mates leveraged them in a meaningful way.”

Political advertising spending this year hit record highs, thanks to a race that was closely contested up until Election Day. But the candidates also reached out to voters beyond those ads and recognized the power of podcasting. According to an Edison Research report published in April, 100 million Americans listen to at least one podcast a week, up by 31% from 2023.

Further, data indicates that podcast listeners are a politically engaged audience. According to a Sounds Profitable report published in 2022, 81% of podcast listeners surveyed voted in the 2020 election.

While it’s unclear just how much podcast appearances influenced this year’s election or led to Trump’s victory, there’s no denying they broke through the noise, according to Tom Webster, a partner at Sounds Profitable.

“Audience figures alone won’t tell the story of these appearances, because these kinds of shows also generate significant word of mouth and evangelism from a highly engaged audience,” Webster tells The Current.

A changing advertising and communications landscape

Mo Allibhai, a senior analyst at Forrester, reiterates that this election showed how important emerging channels were to the candidates’ outreach, not just streaming audio but also gaming.

“Both parties clearly understand that audiences are in these spaces, susceptible to messaging and not fully saturated with ads,” Allibhai says. “We saw advertising and influencing in podcasts and Twitch streams go mainstream across the entire political spectrum in the last 45 days.”

He adds that it could have a “sizable impact on the advertising landscape.”

Experts had previously told The Current that audio was a growing channel for political advertisers that could complement connected TV (CTV). An endorsement from a podcast host with a large following could be a “big push” for a candidate, according to Steven Kritzman, SVP of sales at SiriusXM Media. But experts also acknowledged that podcasts could be tricky if hosts don’t want to be associated with political messaging.

So while it’s impossible to quantify right now if it had any impact on the election, it’s notable that Rogan ultimately endorsed Trump on Monday.

“[The candidates] reached massive audiences in long-form conversations with podcast hosts who, independent of the ‘mainstream media’ filter, were even willing to unapologetically proclaim their support for their preferred ticket,” Johnston said.

Ashley Mann, co-founder of The Colab, wrote on LinkedIn that the phenomenon signals “a fundamental transformation in how Americans consume information.

“For communications professionals, the message is clear — if you're still prioritizing legacy media over podcasts and newsletters, you're fighting yesterday's battle.”