| I'm sure you've seen the headlines by now. We're living through the "podcast election." Rather than spending a majority of their time talking to mainstream or legacy media outlets, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their VP picks have focused instead on speaking to the masses through podcasts. Trump, for example, has done podcast interviews with Theo Von, Lex Fridman, Logan Paul and Dan Bongino. JD Vance, for his part, has spoken with numerous podcasters, including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly. He also went on the New York Times podcast, The Interview. Meanwhile, Harris recently went on Call Her Daddy, All The Smoke and Charlamagne Tha God's The Breakfast Club. Tim Walz has appeared on Pod Save America, SmartLess, Glennon Doyle's We Can Do Hard Things and Ezra Klein's program. As far as straightforward interview shows go, the candidates have checked off a whole bunch from Edison Research's Top 50 list. Yet, one potential interviewer has remained elusive: Joe Rogan, the undisputed biggest podcaster in the US. This could be changing, however. This week brought news that both Trump and Harris may or may not be considering, or actually taping, interviews with the star host. If one or both of them makes the leap — which I'll remind you is not confirmed in any way — it would certainly be a big moment, putting Rogan at the center of a fraught political environment. It's somewhere I'm not entirely sure he'd want to be. But still, podcast election! So why has this presidential race become one waged over the on-demand airwaves? The data below helps explain. The number of people listening to podcasts monthly has more than doubled since 2016 An estimated 135 million people listen to a podcast monthly while 98 million listen weekly, according to Edison Research's "Infinite Dial" study this year. This is a significant uptick from 2016 when Trump first ran for president. At that time, 21% of Americans over the age of 12 said they'd listened to a podcast monthly. This year that figure is 47%. The reach of the medium continues to grow. At this point, it's basically mainstream. People trust podcasters A few different studies suggest people trust podcasters more than other media personalities, particularly when it comes to hearing about the news. Research from Deloitte last year found that 75% of surveyed respondents said they agreed with the statement, "I trust the podcast hosts I listen to." Pew Research found last year that most people who get news from podcasts either say they trust that news more than the news they receive from other sources (31%) or trust it about the same (55%). We typically see this play out through podcast product endorsements, the backbone of the industry. Promo codes on podcasts have become a parody at this point, but the reality is that they work. People often take action when a podcaster throws their weight behind a product, and if having a guest on counts as a tacit endorsement of sorts, listeners are likely going to pay attention. Podcasters have also turned into superstars in their own right, inspiring fans to spend money to see them live and demonstrating how committed people are to the programs. Just this past week, The Rest Is Politics sold out the O2 arena in London. Some 13,000 fans attended. In August, the popular US-based podcast, Kill Tony, performed at Madison Square Garden over two nights. Those events generated $2.4 million in gross revenue with over 25,000 tickets sold, according to Pollstar. Young people, and yes, men, are spending time listening to podcasts Much of the coverage around Trump's and Vance's podcast appearances has centered on their efforts to reach young men. More generally, young people are spending time listening to podcasts. Last year, of people between the ages of 13 and 24, 77% had at some point listened to a podcast, according to Edison Research and SXM Media, and 47% had listened to one in the last month. From that same study, men and boys listened slightly more than women and girls in a month — 53% compared to 46%. But perhaps greater than any single data point is the general recognition of how well the podcast format suits political messaging. Anyone who has listened to a general interview podcast knows these shows often allow guests to speak at length, without interruption, making it an ideal venue for a politician to communicate beyond their worn-out soundbites. Few other media formats provide this kind of access to Gen Z for such prolonged periods of time. Generally, podcasts are no longer fringe, though the programs people listen to often stratify and can be niche. I frequently ask people what shows they consume and receive a wide variety of answers, emphasizing the fact that to reach the full spectrum of podcast listeners, presidential candidates will have to appear on numerous shows. Don't expect the podcast campaigning to slow down in the years to come. | 
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