The Most Powerful People in Podcasting in 2024 (2024)

• ACAST (Ross Adams, Tiffany Ashitey and Greg Glenday)

  

  The Swedish analytics company, which began as a platform to connect creators with advertisers, has quietly become one of the biggest distributors in the industry, boasting more than 125,000 podcasts worldwide. These include both originals and marquee acquisitions like podcasting OG WTF With Marc Maron and Giggly Squad, which collectively added up to 1.1billion listens in quarter two of 2024 alone.

• John Allen (MrBallen Podcast; Ballen Studios)

  

  “Podcasting is best suited to creating unique theater of the mind,” says the backward-hatted former Navy SEAL turned content creator, who has amassed a large following with his knack for narrating true crime and eerie events on his hyper-popular MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories. His 2022 content deal with Wondery led to the spinoff pod MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries and to the birth of Ballen Studios, which includes several more series, a production company, a management arm and a touring operation.

• Audible (Rachel Ghiazza)

  

  Drafting off parent company Amazon’s global reach, Audible’s chief content officer rules an audiobook empire with no equal and oversees the production of hyper-polished, award-winning fare including docuseries and reimagined literary classics performed by all-star casts. Ghiazza recently announced a new audio production of the Harry Potter books, as well a partnership with Amazon MGM Studios to adapt Audible Original narratives into TV series.

• Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes ('SmartLess'; Smartless Media)

  

  What was once simply an early pandemic plan to keep three actor friends — Arnett, Bateman and Hayes — connected and busy is now a full-blown media company, complete with live events and additional podcasts. Remaining at the center is SmartLess, a hit podcast that has drawn rock stars, movie stars and three U.S. presidents as guests. Proof of its power came earlier this year, when SiriusXM inked a sweeping three-year deal with SmartLess Media that reportedly is worth more than $100million.

• Michael Barbaro, Sabrina Tavernise ('The Daily')

  

  Seven years in, The Daily is (still) one of the most popular news podcasts in the country and a must-listen for The New York Times’readership, downloaded more than 3billion times since its launch. Tavernise took on official co-hosting duties after her 2022 pod coverage of the war in Ukraine, and — alongside Barbaro — has drawn a passionate fan base with in-depth coverage and analysis offering steady guidance through the turbulence of the news cycle.

• Black Effect Media (Charlamagne Tha God)

  

  Best known as the co-host of iHeartRadio’s hugely popular morning gabfest The Breakfast Club and the comedy podcast The Brilliant Idiots (alongside Andrew Schulz), Lenard “Charlamagne Tha God” McKelvey is just as busy outside the recording booth. He has executive produced several award-winning scripted podcasts with Kevin Hart and founded iHeart’s The Black Effect Podcast Network, a 4-year-old group comprised of 30 Black-led podcasts (including power list honoree Drink Champs), with nearly a billion downloads among them.

• Chuck Bryant, Josh Clark ('Stuff You Should Know')

  

  Since launching the podcast in 2008, the indefatigably curious duo have planted roots at the top of the charts. Together, Chuck and Josh dive into a new topic nearly every day, covering mind- bogglingly eclectic subjects from champagne to satanism to HPV, with more than 2,000 episodes since the iHeart show’s inception.

• Campside Media (Josh Dean, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Adam Hoff, Matt Shaer)

  

  As much of the podcasting world gravitates toward cost-efficient gabfests and Wikipedia-informed, single-episode true-crime rehashes, Campside’s team of veteran journalists swims against the tide, bringing all their investigative acumen to bear on deeply reported immersive narrative series, with several hit franchises. This year’s “White Devil” — about a mysterious shooting of a cop in Belize that unspools into a story about power, corruption and the dying embers of the British empire — reached No.6 on the podcast charts, with nearly 3million downloads.

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• Crooked Media (Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor)

  

  The wildest election year in memory has provided ample material — and an insatiable listenership — for the three jocular former Obama aides turned podcasting magnates. The Crooked trio led the chorus of Democratic voices calling for President Biden to abandon his re-election bid after his alarming debate performance, and the drama and excitement since then has kept their flagship title, Pod Save America, at the top of the charts (even as they have dealt with a one-day staff walkout amid contract negotiations). Meanwhile, the three have embarked on a live tour, published a book (Democracy or Else) and launched a podcast with former Georgia state representative StaceyAbrams.

• Dateline NBC (Elizabeth Cole)

  

  For three decades, NBC’s longest-running primetime series has been a compelling and smartly produced always-there mainstay. It’s not what the critics call “appointment TV,” but it’s exceedingly reliable.Datelineknows how to tell a compelling story, complete with misdirects, twists and grabby narration.

  Read THR’s full story.

• Emma Chamberlain ('Anything Goes')

  

  After debuting in the spring of 2019, the YouTuber-slash-coffee entrepreneur’s podcast quickly rose up the ranks of the Spotify charts — becoming the platform’s third most listened-to series. She’s since leaned into her roots, emphasizing the video format of her chat show, which centers heavily on a go-with-the-flow vibe (she talks to her audience about whatever — literally — is on her mind). She’s also started inviting celebrity guests, including Daisy Edgar-Jones and Charli XCX.

• Alex Cooper ('Call Her Daddy')

  

  This year, all eyes are on Cooper’s pending distribution deal, which is expected to break records. She signed a $60million contract with Spotify in 2021, after moving her chat show over from the Barstool Sports network. (Originally focused on sex and dating, CHD now incorporates juicy interviews with A-listers.) Cooper is in the midst of negotiations and has been vocal about her desire to land a nine-figure contract. She’s also expanded her portfolio by signing on additional podcasting talent, launching a production company and taking on outside gigs, like hosting an online talk show for NBC’s Olympics coverage.

• Ben Davis, Marissa Hurwitz (WME)

  

  The WME duo and their digital department represents a who’s who of podcasting power, from talent like Dax Shepherd and Jay Shetty to shows including currently red-hot Pod Save America. This past year, Davis and Hurwitz expanded further, inking new deals for Jon Stewart (Paramount’s The Weekly Show) as well as Meghan Markle, We Can Do Hard Things’ Glennon Doyle, Brené Brown and Amy Poehler.

• Amanda Doyle, Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach ('We Can Do Hard Things')

  

  Last year, one of the defining moments of the intimate conversations between married couple Glennon Doyle and retired soccer star Abby Wambach and sister/sister-in-law Amanda Doyle was Glennon’s examination of her recent anorexia diagnosis. This year, it’s been Amanda’s breast cancer diagnosis. The feminism-forward frankness with which the pod’s hosts explore “the messy middle” of life’s challenges has attracted a dedicated listenership and numerous accolades.

• DJ EFN, N.O.R.E. ('Drink Champs')

  

  As their show approaches its 10-year anniversary, the Queens rapper and Miami hip-hop mogul remain podcasting powerhouses thanks to their booze-fueled chats with major hip-hop artists. DJ EFN notes, “We don’t shy away from any guest we think might be fun and/or interesting to have a drink with” — which is how New York Mayor Eric Adams ended up on the show alongside more on-brand guests like will.i.am and Ludacris.

• Alix Earle ('Hot Mess')

  

  Having broken out on TikTok, Earle launched her podcast in September as part of Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network and now charts consistently in the top 10. She speaks to her mostly Gen Z audience about her life, covering topics like relationships, mental health and cosmetic surgery — forever reminding her listeners that they should not compare themselves to influencers’ well-filtered personas.

• Exactly Right Media (Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgariff; 'My Favorite Murder')

  

  Kilgariff and Hardstark are best known for their seminal true-crime podcast, My Favorite Murder, which remains a top 20 charts fixture with more than 30million monthly listeners — but they’ve proved just as powerful on the producing side. Podcasting network Exactly Right Media, which they founded in 2018, produces and hosts 13 series in addition to a growing number of miniseries like the recent historical deep dive The Butterfly King.

• Ashley Flowers ('Crime Junkie'; audiochuck)

  

  Flowers’ name has become synonymous with true crime thanks to her juggernaut hit podcast Crime Junkie and her best-selling 2022 debut novel, All Good People Here. She also founded audiochuck, which produces more than a dozen podcast series monthly as well as SiriusXM’s Crime Junkie Radio.

• Gillie Da King, Wallo ('Million Dollaz Worth of Game')

  

  On their weekly podcast, Philadelphia rapper Gillie Da King and social media influencer Wallo discuss music and personal experiences and riff with featured guests like Cardi B, Alicia Keys, Latto and Offset. The MDWoG co–hosts revealed this year that they turned down a multimillion-dollar deal from Spotify because “they wanted to own us.” Then, they say, Barstool Sports offered them an even better deal for “five times” more.

• Tony Hinchcliffe ('Kill Tony')

  

  The controversial insult comic dropped by WME in 2021 over a racial slur controversy involving comedian Peng Dang (but who has since signed with UTA) has seen his profile skyrocket since he stole the show with an outrageous set on Netflix’s Roast of Tom Brady. Since 2013, Hinchcliffe has hosted Kill Tony — a live format that allows amateur comedians to try out a minute of original material for an audience of millions. The catch? They have to then be mercilessly critiqued by Hinchcliffe and co-host Brian Redban alongside a rotation of comedy podcast buddies like Joe Rogan and Shane Gillis.

• Andrew Huberman ('Huberman Lab')

  

  Huberman regularly tops the Health and Fitness charts with his vertiginously deep dives into a variety of medical topics with useful applications (improving your sleep, memory, energy levels, etc.). The bushy-bearded neuroscientist’s popularity, despite the scientific denseness of some of his content, attests to his remarkable ability to calmly elucidate complex concepts. The episode “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health” ranked as Apple’s most shared episode of 2023.

• iHEART (Conal Byrne, Will Pearson)

  

  iHeartMedia remains the top podcasting publisher by audience size, according to industry analytics site Podtrac. The company’s roster includes Shondaland, Blumhouse, Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players, The Black Effect With Charlamagne Tha God, the NFL, the NBA and more. Recently, iHeart also has struck a partnership with NBC around the Paris Olympics and has launched the Women’s Sports Audio network.

• Ash Kelley, Alaina Urquhart ('Morbid')

  

  Autopsy technician Urquhart and hairstylist Kelley — Urquhart is Kelley’s aunt, but they call each other sisters — co-host Morbid: A True Crime Podcast, which launched in May 2018 and wallows in all things macabre, earning 15million monthly downloads. The brand has expanded into the Morbid Podcast Network, which now includes 13 podcasts.

• Jason Kelce, Travis Kelce ('New Heights')

  

  We may never know what proportion of New Heights’ listenership tunes in to hear the NFL star brothers talk X’s and O’s and how many parse the 2-year-old podcast for any behind-the-scenes tidbits about Super Bowl champ Travis’ life with girlfriend Taylor Swift. But their combined numbers have made the Kelces’ weekly bull session a regular chart-topper and emboldened the brothers to reportedly seek a $100million distribution deal.

• Lemonada Media (Jessica Cordova Kramer, Stephanie Wittels Wachs)

  

  The podcasting company was launched in 2019 and since has grown to include more than 40 titles, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Wiser Than Me, David Duchovny’s Fail Better and Sam Smith’s The Pink House. In February, the company announced a partnership with Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, which includes the distribution of the first season of Archetypes as well as a new podcast series to be named later. Recently, the company launched its own imprint in partnership with Simon & Schuster.

• Josh Lindgren, Caroline Edwards (CAA)

  

  Headed by Lindgren with Edwards at his side, CAA’s Podcast department has brokered big-money deals for the agency’s top talent, including the SmartLess trio’s blockbuster move to SiriusXM, David Duchovny’s first podcast, Fail Better, a second season of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Wiser Than Me, and a third season of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s on Me. They’ve also handled podcast efforts from James Corden, Kristin Cavallari and JoJo Siwa and many others.

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus ('Wiser Than Me')

  

  Older women are an invaluable font of wisdom, so why don’t we hear from them more? Such is the premise of Louis-Dreyfus’ award-winning interview show, launched in 2023. In the first season of the Lemonada Media podcast, the comedy legend asked venerable guests including Jane Fonda and Carol Burnett about everything from aging to romance to body image. The Seinfeld and Veep star built on the show’s success in the second season with guests including Sally Field, Julie Andrews, Gloria Steinem and Debbie Allen.

• Rachel Maddow ('Ultra')

  

  The MSNBC host has single-handedly turbocharged the cable news channel’s podcast business ever since her 2019 breakout Bag Man, which is now being adapted for film by Ben Stiller. Her 2022 follow-up, Ultra, was quickly picked up for a film adaptation by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, and the second season has likewise found a home on the top podcast charts since its June debut. Maddow is also using her brand to launch new podcasts, like last year’s Deja News, led by producer Isaac-Davy Aronson.
  

• New York Times (Sam Dolnick)

  

  Some roles you’re born into, such as a fifth-generation member of the Ochs Sulzberger family, owners of The New York Times. Other roles you make for yourself — say, as the architect of the paper of record’s shift into audio and co-creator of The Daily, a top 10 podcast on pretty much every chart, and exec producer on its FX Network small-screen version, The Weekly. And if you did it on your own merits, grinding your way up the journalism ladder despite your nepo-baby status, you’re probably NYT deputy managing editor Dolnick.

• NPR (Colin Campbell)

  

  Campbell, who started in public radio at Morning Edition in 2003 and went on to stints at Gimlet and Audible, returned to NPR as senior vp podcasting strategy and franchise development at the end of 2023, just after the broadcaster slashed its podcast slate. Seeking to bolster NPR’s financial safety net in a rocky ad environment, Campbell has pushed the tradition of listener support in public media to the podcast space, promoting the NPR+ podcast bundle and single-show subscriptions. This dizzying election year, meanwhile, is good for audience building, with NPR’s News Now and Up First podcasts consistently topping U.S. charts.

• Joe Rogan ('The Joe Rogan Experience')

  

  The conspiracy-curious, vaccine-questioning comedian and MMA enthusiast established himself as the undisputed king of podcasting in 2020 with his $200million, three-and-a-half-year deal with Spotify. Top artists including Neil Young fled the platform in protest. Undaunted, Spotify signed an even sweeter nonexclusive $250million deal in February that allowed The Joe Rogan Experience to be distributed across several rival platforms and on YouTube. Meanwhile, Young has returned to Spotify. Resistance is futile.

• Matt Rogers, Bowen Yang ('Las Culturistas')

  

  The pop culture podcast anchored by SNL castmember Yang and fellow comedian Rogers has made its own cultural headlines this year thanks to guests including Tina Fey, who counseled Yang to keep his true opinions to himself, given his growing fame (“Authenticity is dangerous and expensive”), and appearances by the likes of Dua Lipa and Hannah Einbinder. In June, the podcast hosted its third live awards show parody, the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, which has drawn Taylor Swift, Mandy Moore and others.

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• Oren Rosenbaum, A.J. Leone (UTA)

  

  Together, Rosenbaum and Leone represent the lion’s share of THR’s podcasting power list. As co-head of UTA Creators, Rosenbaum handles Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, Exactly Right Media, MrBallen, Wondery and Campside Media, among many others. Leone’s roster includes Emma Chamberlain, Kara Swisher, iHeart, and Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. Leone’s podcasting guilty pleasure? “Skipping the ads.” Rosenbaum’s? “Relistening to the ads.”

• Ben Shapiro ('The Ben Shapiro Show')

  

  Many top conservative commentators have abandoned (or in some cases been forced out of) cable news in favor of the greener pastures of podcasting. But Shapiro was ahead of the curve. His Ben Shapiro Show was helping establish the format while Megyn Kelly and Tucker  Carlson were still holding down primetime TV slots, and has become one of the signature products of his Daily Wire conservative media empire.

• Shannon Sharpe ('Club Shay Shay')

  

  The popular sports pundit and former NFL star tight end spent years quietly building a podcast empire that exploded into the mainstream this year with an outrageous, three-hour sit-down with comic Katt Williams. At 72million views, it’s the most watched interview in YouTube history. That success has helped turn Sharpe, 56, into the internet’s top destination for African American celebrities looking to get something off their chests — and hopefully go viral in the process.

• Dax Shepard ('Armchair Expert')

  

  In June, actor-comedian Shepard and co-host Monica Padman signed one of the biggest podcasting deals of the year, with Amazon’s Wondery paying $80million for exclusive distribution and ad rights to their long-running interview series. As part of the arrangement, Shepard and Padman will co-produce two new podcasts and have a first-look option for any new shows.

• Bill Simmons ('The Bill Simmons Podcast'; 'The Ringer')

  

  It’s been nearly five years since Spotify ponied up more than $250million to acquire Bill Simmons’ The Ringer network. In the half-decade or so since, the Boston sports nut has worn many hats: host of multiple hit podcasts, managing director of The Ringer and head of podcast innovation and monetization for Spotify. Simmons continues to expand his footprint, too, with new and returning sports and pop culture pods.

• SiriusXM (Scott Greenstein, Sarah van Mosel)

  

  It was a banner year at SiriusXM, with Greenstein, president and chief content officer of SiriusXM, leading the efforts to poach SmartLess from Wondery in a multi­year deal, partnering with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media to bring its podcasts into the SiriusXM network and launching Crime Junkie Radio, the company’s first true-crime station. In her role overseeing the company’s slate of podcasts, van Mosel, senior vp podcast strategy, also has ushered in titles including Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, the upcoming launch of Suits rewatch podcast Sidebar, hosted by Patrick J. Adams and Sarah Rafferty, and Yara Shahidi’s The Optimist Project.

• Sony Music (Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasekh)

  

  “I’d like to see the industry regain our confident swagger that was bruised last year,” Ackerman says. Clearly, the Sony Music duo have a spring in their step: Earlier this year, the team acquired production company Neon Hum, with the two brands having previously collaborated on Dinner’s on Me With Jesse Tyler Ferguson and the true-crime franchise Smoke Screen. Additionally, the Sony comedy podcast Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake is the most-nominated title heading into the 2024 British Podcast Awards.

• Spotify (Sahar Elhabashi, Maya Prohovnik, Jordan Newman)

  

  After slashing jobs and abandoning exclusivity deals with even top stars like Alex Cooper and Joe Rogan, Spotify has dramatically changed its podcasting business model in the past year. Under Elhabashi, head of its content business; Prohovnik, vp podcast product; and Newman, head of content partnerships, the company is reducing in-house production and partnering with established media companies like Meta and Warner Bros. Discovery to host and distribute podcasts like CNN’s All There Is With Anderson Cooper and HBO’s The Official Game of Thrones Podcast: House of the Dragon.

• Kara Swisher ('Pivot'; 'On'; 'Succession Podcast')

  

  The veteran tech journalist continues to make headlines with her bluff, no-holds-barred interviews of top power brokers in Silicon Valley, D.C. and Hollywood as host of Vox Media’s On With Kara Swisher. This past March, Pivot, which Swisher co-hosts with Scott Galloway, took home the award for best news podcast at the recent iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

• Team Coco (Conan O’Brien)

  

  Though he’s short on friends, O’Brien is not in want of listeners. The Team Coco portfolio, anchored by his own Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, nets 180million downloads a year. Overall listenership is now seriously boosted by SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio, part of a $150million deal with the dominant satellite radio outfit, where the late night alum and recent Hot Ones breakout delivers a seemingly limitless supply of A-list interviews.

• Theo Von ('This Past Weekend')

  

  A mulleted comic philosopher with a Louisiana drawl, Von, 44, has turned his longform podcast into appointment listening. Fans show up in droves — the Tucker Carlson episode drew 9.2million hits on YouTube alone — for Von’s freewheeling and frequently hysterical discussions with guests from the far reaches of politics, media and entertainment.

• Vox Media (Nishat Kurwa, Ray Chao)

  

  “I will not be releasing any podcasts until further notice,” declared popular inspirational podcaster Brené Brown after her contract with Spotify expired in 2022. It’s a credit to top podcast execs Kurwa and Chao’s vision that they were able to relaunch Brown’s beloved Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead under the Vox Media banner. Among their other touchstones are both of Kara Swisher’s pods and the true crime series Criminal, still riveting listeners after 10 years.

• Wondery (Jen Sargent)

  

  The Amazon-owned podcast studio recently brought Dax Shepard’s popular Armchair Expert into its fold as part of an $80million deal. The company, which is the second-largest publisher on the list, according to Podtrac, also has found success with bingeable narrative titles, including WeCrashed and Dr. Death, among several Wondery shows that have been adapted to the screen, as well as Business Wars, Scamfluencers, How I Built This and MrBallen’s network of podcasts.

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