New York, United States:
Conservative podcasters have enjoyed a popularity boost in the United States in recent months, thrusting them into an evolving media market dominated by liberal political voices.
Personalities linked to the right — Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Shawn Ryan and Candace Owens — are among the 25 most listened to podcasts on Spotify, and all reached that level in the past year.
This marks a break from a tradition in which prominent shows like “Pod Save America” have often found themselves on the other side of the political aisle.
Newly elected US President Donald Trump’s election campaign helped take right-wing shows to the next level, with the 78-year-old Republican appearing as a guest on some shows. But liberals have not had the same success.
“I think the reason you’re seeing more conservatives is that the liberal side has been swamped, and so it becomes much more difficult to launch a podcast with a liberal view,” said Chris Lanuti, president of The Broadcast Basement, a production and consultancy agency.
According to Kristine Johnson, a marketing professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, “one of the reasons these shows have become more popular is because they are popular on television.”
Until April 2023, Tucker Carlson was one of America’s most watched TV hosts, attracting three million viewers every night on Fox News, where Megyn Kelly was also a host.
“Podcasting is more mainstream, so it’s easier to jump to another platform and continue hearing from the people you enjoy listening to,” Johnson said.
Extreme content
The democratization of podcasts reflects the growth of audiences beyond the young, college-educated urbanites who have historically made up the bulk of listeners.
About 98 million Americans now listen to podcasts at least once a week — a 58 percent increase from five years ago, according to an April Edison Research survey.
Podcasting as a medium has “matured”, says Martin Spinelli, a professor of podcasting – said to be the first in Britain – at the University of Sussex.
“People have figured out how to use it effectively to send messages and how to use it effectively to make money, and that’s where we are now,” Spinelli said.
He added that left-wing podcasts are more “in your head” than conservative programs like those of political pundit Ben Shapiro, which he cites as a reason for right-wing success.
Refining the algorithms – the complex rules that determine what content users see in their feeds – has also helped podcasts reach the right audiences.
The challenge and risk for conservative voices now is how to distinguish themselves in a country already divided by politics and where much of the media is divided along partisan lines.
The Broadcast Basement’s Lanuti said this competition could lead to more extreme content on both sides of the aisle.
“When it comes to political podcasts, one of the reasons you get extreme things, whether they’re left or right, is because the market is saturated and they’re trying to separate themselves so they continue to attract attention.” , he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)