Everything Is Political series

Podcasting Is Political: Who Profits, Who Gets Erased, and Why Your Listening Choices Matter

July 13, 2026 · With Sarah Heeter

This episode is for you if you’ve ever wondered why the same handful of shows sit at the top of the charts every week. Or if you host a podcast and feel like your 50 loyal listeners somehow “don’t count.”

In this episode of our Everything Is Political series, Becky and Taina sit down with Sarah Heeter, podcast producer, strategist, and founder of PodFox Media, to dig into the deeply political nature of podcasting. Sarah shares the research on who actually profits (among podcasters earning $75K or more a year, about 70% are men and about 80% are white), how the 2020 celebrity boom flooded the industry with money, and how 2024 turned podcasts into a campaign tool.

They also get into why podcasting feels like a weekly phone call, why that intimacy makes listeners so persuadable, and what responsibility hosts and producers have when they choose guests, sponsors, and corrections. Then they turn it back to you: how to find marginalized indie voices the algorithm hides, why audience depth matters more than follower counts, and why the shows you listen to (and the advertisers you support) send a message.

“They didn’t come for you. They came for an overall event. If they come to your podcast, they came specifically for you.”

— Sarah Heeter

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• Why podcasting is a political medium, even when the content has nothing to do with politics
• The gatekeeping problem: who profits most from podcasting (spoiler: it’s mostly white men) and what that means for independent creators
• How the 2020 celebrity podcast boom reshaped the entire industry, and who it left behind
• The 2024 election strategy of using podcasts as campaign tools, and what that means for democracy and misinformation
• The responsibility of podcast hosts and producers to vet guests, set core values, and decide what they put their name on
• Why podcast listeners are disproportionately persuadable and what top creators are doing with that influence
• How consumers and independent creators can make intentional, values-aligned choices in both what they listen to and who they platform
• The power of community resources like the Feminist Podcasters Collective to amplify marginalized indie voices
• Why 50 loyal podcast listeners means more than 100K TikTok views, and how to think about audience depth vs. follower counts
• The unresolved questions about video podcasting, transcripts, AI, and accessibility that are already shaping who can participate in this space

Timestamps

• 00:13 – Meet Sarah Heeter and PodFox Media
• 02:39 – When Sarah realized podcasting was a political space
• 04:15 – Why podcasting feels like a phone call (and why that’s powerful)
• 05:29 – Parting ways with a client over values
• 08:26 – Who profits: the stats on gender and race among top podcast earners
• 12:06 – The Feminist Podcasters Collective and the indie podcaster reality
• 14:27 – The money behind the most visible shows
• 15:23 – How the 2020 celebrity podcast boom reshaped the industry
• 17:47 – Why celebrity podcasts are so hard to listen to
• 19:14 – The 2024 election: candidates on the podcast circuit
• 21:21 – Podcasters aren’t journalists: misinformation and corrections
• 22:33 – With great power comes great responsibility: persuadable listeners
• 24:10 – How to vet guests and sponsors with core values
• 28:22 – Values-aligned choices for indie creators and listeners
• 31:02 – Seeking out voices that don’t land on the charts
• 32:50 – Discovery tools: FPC, Podchaser, blogs, and lists
• 34:52 – Why 50 loyal listeners beat 100K TikTok views
• 37:58 – Where the money goes: campaigns, donations, and harm
• 40:16 – Who listens to podcasts, and the persuadable middle
• 41:20 – Your choices matter: advertisers, boycotts, and the Spotify exodus
• 43:19 – Sarah’s takeaway: as a consumer and a creator, your choices matter
• 45:27 – The questions we didn’t get to: video, accessibility, transcripts, and AI
• 47:07 – Where to find Sarah and Big Brave Business

Resources Mentioned

• PodFox Media, Sarah’s podcast production and strategy company
• Big Brave Business, Sarah’s podcast
• Feminist Podcasters Collective
• Podchaser (build and find curated podcast lists)
• Listen Notes (podcast search engine)