The 2024 presidential election has been dubbed the “podcast election” — in part because President Donald Trump, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and their vice presidential picks made various appearances on podcasts and online shows as candidates.

At Trump’s election victory party on November 5, UFC President Dana White praised several podcasters for their role in helping to get Trump elected, saying: “I want to thank the boys Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin' with the Boys. And last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”

Podcasts and online shows have become more popular and trusted news sources. The number of people listening to podcasts monthly has reportedly more than doubled since 2016. According to a 2023 Pew Research study, 87% of people who hear news discussed on podcasts said they expect it to be mostly accurate and 31% said they trust podcasts more than other news sources.

In August 2024 — just a few months before Election Day — Pew found that about 1 in 5 Americans said they regularly get news from influencers on social media. The weekly reach of large online shows is also reportedly better than that of many cable networks.

With Americans increasingly getting their news from these sources, they played a significant role in the 2024 election. By appearing on these shows ahead of the 2024 election, Trump reached an audience of 23.5 million American adults in an average week — compared to Harris’ 6.4 million — according to Edison Podcast Metrics.

Journalists have started to highlight the asymmetry of the online media ecosystem. Bloomberg watched and analyzed over 2,000 videos — nearly 1,300 hours of footage — from nine prominent YouTubers, including Adin Ross, Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, Theo Von, and Patrick Bet-David, and found that “above all, the broadcasters described American men as victims of a Democratic campaign to strip them of their power,” though “none of the broadcasters style themselves as political pundits.”

Media Matters compiled a list of 418 popular online shows — podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online — that were active during 2024, assessed ideological alignment, and found 320 online shows with an ideological bent (191 right-leaning and 129 left-leaning) that covered news and politics and/or hosted related guests.

Nine of the 10 online shows from our study with the largest total following across platforms were right-leaning, accounting for at least 197 million total followers and subscribers. These are the online shows of:

• Joe Rogan: 39.9 million
• Ben Shapiro: 25 million
• Jordan Peterson: 23 million
• Russell Brand: 22.5 million
• Theo Von: 22.3 million
• Charlie Kirk: 18.6 million
• Nelk Boys’ Full Send Podcast: 16.7 million
• Candace Owens: 15 million
• Dr. Phil: 14.2 million

The only left-leaning show among the top 10 was What Now? with Trevor Noah, with over 21.1 million total followers and subscribers.

Of these most-followed right-leaning online shows, only 4 are categorized on Apple Podcasts as news and politics, while Rogan, Von, and Full Send are characterized as comedy, Peterson as education, and Dr. Phil as society and culture.

While these podcasts often host celebrity guests like Timothée Chalamet, MrBeast, and Luke Bryan, these 5 right-leaning comedy, education, and society and culture shows have also had dozens of episodes featuring right-wing media figures and politicians since October 1, 2024.

Guests on these shows have included Trump, Vance, the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, right-wing figures Tucker Carlson and Dave Smith, Trump picks Tom Homan, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Monica Crowley, UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White, and far-right constitutional sheriffs.

Additionally, 65 right-leaning online shows had followings larger than 1 million, but only 21 left-leaning online shows boast comparable followings.

Across streaming platforms including YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, Kick, and Spotify, the left-leaning online shows had at least 55.9 million total followers and subscribers — a figure which is dwarfed by the right-leaning online shows with at least 255.5 million.

This content is further amplified on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — social media platforms where the programs or hosts post full streams, clips, and show links. Left-leaning online shows had at least 48 million followers across these platforms, while the right-leaning online shows had more than 225 million followers.

Of a cumulative 584.6 million followers and subscribers across all eight platforms, Media Matters found that right-leaning online shows accounted for roughly 82%, or 480.6 million — almost five times more than left-leaning shows’ nearly 104 million.

The largest followings for the right- and left-leaning online shows were on YouTube, with 185.5 million and 45.8 million subscribers, respectively.

Of the 191 right-leaning and 129 left-leaning online shows that covered news and politics or hosted related guests, 80 of the right-leaning online shows (42%) are categorized as comedy, entertainment, sports, or other supposedly nonpolitical topics. In fact, 72% of the 111 supposedly nonpolitical shows that we determined had an ideological bent were right-leaning.

Moreover, these right-leaning shows span a wider variety of categories, self-identifying by subjects such as business, comedy, gaming, education, entertainment, religion and spirituality, society and culture, sports, wellness/health, and technology. Meanwhile, left-leaning shows that are not explicitly identified as news and politics-related mostly self-identify as comedy, entertainment, or society and culture programs.

The disparity in total followers and subscribers across platforms of right-leaning and left-leaning online shows in these categories was substantial. Right-leaning online shows categorized as comedy, entertainment, sports, and other supposedly nonpolitical topics had at least 243.1 million total followers and subscribers — more than the 237.5 million for right-leaning online shows categorized as news and politics-related. It’s also more than five times the 44 million followers and subscribers for left-leaning shows not identified as political, and more than four times the 60 million of left-leaning shows categorized as news and politics-related.

The 15 right-leaning online comedy shows featured in Media Matters’ analysis — including The Joe Rogan Experience, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, Full Send Podcast, Impaulsive, AwakenWithJP, Kill Tony, Flagrant, The Roseanne Barr Podcast, and The Tim Dillon Show — had more than 117.5 million total followers and subscribers, or 20% of the total following of all 320 right- and left-leaning shows.

Ahead of the election, Trump and Vance appeared on 6 of these right-leaning comedy shows a total of 9 times. On YouTube, these appearances have at least 119.7 million views.

Media Matters gathered data on views for the YouTube channels of the shows we analyzed and found that right-leaning online shows accounted for more than two-thirds of the total — 67% — with 65 billion views. Comparatively, total views on videos of channels of left-leaning online shows were 31.5 billion, or 33%.

Right-leaning online shows also use Rumble to expand their audience by billions of views, while left-leaning shows have essentially no presence on the platform. On Rumble, channels affiliated with the right-leaning online shows we analyzed had earned more than 3 billion views.

Media Matters compiled a list of 439 online shows — including the shows of media and political figures, podcasts on the top charts of Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and popular streams. We did not include any shows that were produced by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, HBO, or Comedy Central.

Three researchers independently assessed these 439 online shows for four factors. They determined: (1) whether the show or stream has had new content since January 1, 2024, (2) whether the online show is political or news-related, (3) the self-identified category of the show or stream, and (4) the content’s ideological alignment (left-leaning, right-leaning, or ideologically nonaligned). Each online show was reviewed individually and given a final code if two of the three researchers independently awarded it the same code. Online shows that did not achieve this level of consensus were reviewed again individually by two additional coders who then reconciled discrepancies.

Of the 439 online shows, 21 were found not to have posted new content since January 1, 2024, and were removed from the final data set — resulting in 418 shows.

To determine if a show was political, researchers assessed whether it often discussed news, politics, and/or social issues, and/or if it hosted political and news-related guests. We removed 90 online shows that were identified as nonpolitical from the final data set.

Researchers determined the self-identified categories of the shows from the categories listed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify; if the show was exclusive to YouTube, Kick, Twitch, or Rumble, researchers used the show’s title, description, or “about” section to identify its category. Categories included business, news and politics, comedy, gaming, education, entertainment, religion and spirituality, society and culture, sports, wellness/health, technology, and others. We deferred to Apple Podcasts for categorization when possible, as a primary category selected by the creator is clearly displayed on a show's page.

Researchers determined the ideological alignment of a show or stream first by self-identification — if an ideology was clearly stated in a show’s title, about section, profile, or header pictures.

• A show or stream was coded as left-leaning if the show/stream or host identified as Democrat, liberal, left or left-leaning, pro-Biden, pro-Obama, pro-choice, pro-racial equality and justice, or pro-environment.
• A show or stream was coded as right-leaning if the show/stream or host identified as Republican, conservative, right or right-leaning, pro-Trump, pro-Second Amendment rights, pro-life, pro-Confederacy, or libertarian.

All shows that did not explicitly state one of the above positions were analyzed and classified using the following criteria:

• If the show predominantly had political and news-related guests of one ideology, it was categorized as that ideology.
• If a show did not self-identify its ideology but was owned by an entity that did outwardly express an ideology (according to the same guidelines), the show in question was coded based on the owner's additional shows or content.
• If a show was affiliated with a known right- or left-leaning media outlet — or that outlet’s journalists or personalities — it was coded accordingly. Subsidiaries of these known outlets were also categorized based on the parent outlet.
• If the show’s most recent episodes clearly expressed an ideology in the title or thumbnail, the show was coded accordingly.

We removed 8 online shows from the data set that were coded as having an unclear or mixed ideology, or were affiliated with a legacy media, mainstream media, or local media outlet.

For the resulting list of 320 online shows, we compiled show or host accounts on the following social media and podcast platforms that streamed or shared full episodes, had long-form streaming or video content, or amplified clips, full episodes/streams, or show links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, Kick, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

From these platforms, we pulled data for total subscribers or followers, with the exception of Apple Podcasts, which does not provide that data on the platform. Spotify also didn’t provide data for some shows, including The Ben Shapiro Show and The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast. For 24 right-leaning and 11 left-leaning shows, Spotify shared only that they had less than 1,000 subscribers each. We categorized those shows as having 0 followers. We also pulled total views from YouTube and Rumble channels. Subscriber, follower, and view counts were collected on February 3, 2025.

For the study, we defined “online shows” as podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online. We also defined “total following” as the sum of total subscribers on YouTube and Spotify, and total followers on Facebook, Rumble, Twitch, Kick, Instagram, and TikTok. Not all online shows had accounts on all eight platforms.

Data contributions from Payton Armstrong, Shelby Jamerson, Chloe Simon, Gideon Taaffe, Jack Wheatley, and Jack Winstanley.