> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://barbarosozturk.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why Podcasts Became The Most Powerful Stage In Business And Politics - URL: https://barbarosozturk.com/blog/why-podcasts-became-the-most-powerful-stage-in-business-and-politics/ - Published: 2026-11-11T00:34:05.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-11T00:34:05.000Z - Description: Presidential candidates, authors, bank CEOs and founders now treat a three-hour conversation as their main stage. Podcasts reach more Americans than ever, and the people who need trust most have learned to show up when it counts. - Author: Barbaros - Tags: Marketing, Leadership, Technology A few years ago, a podcast appearance was a nice extra on a press schedule. Now it's often the main event. Candidates use podcasts to reach voters TV can't find, authors and actors use them in place of a tour, and executives use them when they need people to believe something. I've written about several people who made this work, and I think the pattern says a lot about where trust comes from now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-60.png) ### The Audience Got Bigger And Moved To Video The numbers explain part of it. Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2026 found that [58% of Americans aged 12 and older](https://ppc.land/58-of-americans-now-listen-to-podcasts-monthly-a-record/?ref=barbarosozturk.com) listen to podcasts monthly, about 167 million people and a record. YouTube is now the main podcast platform for 39% of weekly listeners, about twice Spotify's share. That shift to video matters more than the size. A three-hour episode becomes dozens of short clips that keep circulating for weeks after it airs. So one conversation now does the work of a long press run. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-61.png) ### Candidates Go Where The Voters Are The 2024 US election made this obvious. Donald Trump's three-hour conversation with Joe Rogan drew [more than 40 million YouTube views](https://fortune.com/2024/10/30/joe-rogan-kamala-harris-donald-trump-jre-podcast/?ref=barbarosozturk.com). Kamala Harris's campaign talked with Rogan's team but never booked the interview, and Rogan said he objected to the proposed one-hour limit and wanted to record in his Austin studio. A year later, [a survey of podcast listeners](https://campaignsandelections.com/industry-news/podcasts-played-pivotal-role-in-2024-election/?ref=barbarosozturk.com) found half said podcasts had at least some influence on their 2024 vote, and that group leaned toward Trump. The sample covered only listeners, so I wouldn't read it as proof podcasts decided the election. The more useful finding is what voters say they trust. Trump voters ranked podcasts first for evaluating candidates, while Harris voters put TV news first. And 76% said they pay at least some attention to politicians on podcasts, slightly more than on TV. The pollster's advice to candidates was simple: go on shows that match your real interests, because those audiences are cultural before they're political. I think that's the lesson both parties are now acting on. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-62.png) ### The Podcast Tour Replaced The Press Tour Book tours and film junkets used to mean a few minutes on morning TV and late night. That audience has shrunk. The Tonight Show averaged 11 million viewers in 1995, and Jimmy Fallon's average was [under 1.2 million by 2025](https://everything-pr.com/the-press-tour-is-dead-the-podcast-tour-replaced-it?ref=barbarosozturk.com), according to Everything-PR. Glen Powell has said he treats podcasts as "the primary tour." Authors have moved the same way. When I wrote about [Rory Sutherland's podcast blitz](https://barbarosozturk.com/blog/rory-sutherlands-podcast-blitz-why-the-alchemist-is-everywhere-in-2026/), what struck me was how he repeated the same stories across dozens of shows to build one argument. That's a campaign, and the book is only part of it. I've also seen the effect in reverse. [Sally Paine](https://barbarosozturk.com/blog/sarah-sally-c-m-paine-the-historian-that-is-about-to-get-internet-popular/) spent decades as a respected naval historian, and long-form podcasts introduced her to a far bigger audience. I couldn't find good data on how many books a podcast tour sells, so I'd treat that part as a strong pattern rather than a measured effect. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-63.png) ### Bankers Show Up When Confidence Is Scarce This is the area I find most interesting. Markets run on confidence, and confidence is hard to deliver in a press release. When I wrote about [David Solomon's podcast run](https://barbarosozturk.com/blog/the-podcast-pivot-why-david-solomon-is-everywhere-in-2026/), my read was that Goldman's CEO was trying to tell founders and executives that the dealmaking slowdown was over. I don't have data proving that financial leaders appear on podcasts more when markets are scared. It fits what I see, though. When people are nervous, a calm voice for two hours does more than a quarterly letter, because listeners feel they've judged the person for themselves. It's also a softer stage than a TV interview, with fewer interruptions and more room to frame the story. That's exactly why I listen to these episodes with some care. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-64.png) ### Founders Talk Before The Quiet Period Founders and VCs have become regulars on shows like All-In, Acquired and TBPN. The IPO angle has a legal twist that most people miss. SEC rules make it risky for a company to talk itself up right before going public. Communications more than [30 days before filing](https://www.gibsondunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Communications-during-the-IPO-Process-Best-Practices-and-Pitfalls.pdf?ref=barbarosozturk.com) can fall under a safe harbor, but only if they don't mention the IPO. After filing, media interviews about strategy or prospects are generally off limits, and a published interview can even be treated as a prospectus. So the smart move is to build familiarity early, long before the paperwork. By the time the quiet period starts, the audience already knows the founder's voice and story. I think that's why so many founders treat podcasts as a long-term investment rather than a launch tactic. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-65.png) ### Tech Companies Now Own The Stage The clearest sign of how valuable this channel has become is who's buying it. In April, OpenAI [acquired TBPN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TBPN?ref=barbarosozturk.com), the daily tech show that I've [written about before](https://barbarosozturk.com/blog/tbpn-the-brothers-who-make-tech-reporting-fun/). It only draws about 70,000 viewers per episode, but its guests have included Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella and Sam Altman himself. OpenAI bought a show watched closely by founders, investors and engineers, which is the audience it cares about most. That raises a question I'd want answered as a listener. When a show is owned by a company it covers, how independent can the interviews be? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-66.png) ### Why It Works I think podcasts became powerful for three reasons. The first is length. Three hours is too long to stay on script, so audiences feel they're meeting the real person. The second is the host. Listeners already trust the host, and the guest borrows some of that trust for the length of the episode. The third is the audience itself. Podcast listeners chose to spend hours with a voice, which is a far stronger signal than a scroll past an ad. As a marketer, that combination is hard to beat. The election survey I mentioned earlier found that half of listeners viewed candidate ads on podcasts more positively than ads on other media. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/64/81/648165b7-979e-43dd-9c43-02101159f467/content/images/2026/11/image-67.png) ### Conclusion: Trust Is The New Distribution Podcasts didn't replace TV, books or roadshows completely. They became the place where people decide whether to trust someone before anything else happens. Candidates use them to reach voters TV misses, authors and actors use them as the tour, and executives use them when the market needs reassurance. The risk is that the format feels so personal that we forget it's still a stage, with a host, a guest and sometimes an owner who all want something. **My Take:** The most powerful people now earn trust in three-hour conversations, so the smartest listeners should treat every episode as a pitch, however relaxed it sounds. ## Sources Pages I opened for the facts in this post: - [PPC Land: Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2026](https://ppc.land/58-of-americans-now-listen-to-podcasts-monthly-a-record/?ref=barbarosozturk.com) - [Fortune: Rogan, Trump and Harris](https://fortune.com/2024/10/30/joe-rogan-kamala-harris-donald-trump-jre-podcast/?ref=barbarosozturk.com) - [Campaigns & Elections: How podcasts shaped the 2024 race](https://campaignsandelections.com/industry-news/podcasts-played-pivotal-role-in-2024-election/?ref=barbarosozturk.com) - [Everything-PR: The podcast tour replaced the press tour](https://everything-pr.com/the-press-tour-is-dead-the-podcast-tour-replaced-it?ref=barbarosozturk.com) - [Gibson Dunn: Communications during the IPO process](https://www.gibsondunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Communications-during-the-IPO-Process-Best-Practices-and-Pitfalls.pdf?ref=barbarosozturk.com) - [Wikipedia: TBPN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TBPN?ref=barbarosozturk.com)