The Conservative Podcast Revolution

In a national media and digital information landscape dominated by the left, from social media companies to cable networks, to legacy news outlets, the conservative podcast ecosystem has emerged as perhaps the right’s most effective platform for information dissemination.

According to a recent Pew Research study, 49 percent of Americans have listened to a podcast within the last year, and nearly one in five reported listening to a podcast on a near-daily basis. Podcasts, in the words of the report, have “become a big part of the normal routine—and news diet—of many Americans, especially younger adults.”

Another recent survey found that Americans aged 18 to 34 listen to podcasts at the same rate as they watch television. Podcasts have given listeners the freedom to consume an enormous library of content on-demand while they commute to work, go to the grocery store, or mow the lawn.

Of course, political shows account for only a fraction of the nation’s most widely listened-to podcasts. But even so, current podcast rankings indicate that conservative content is not only present in the world of podcasts but is in many ways thriving.

According to a recent examination of the “News” subcategory of Apple’s podcast chart, which ranks the nation’s top 200 news shows, 45 of them, or nearly a quarter of the shows included in the rankings, feature outspoken conservative voices.

The top of the list includes figures like Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Dan Bongino, Megyn Kelly, Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens, and Matt Walsh. Conservative thought leaders Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Michael Knowles, Allie Beth Stuckey, Victor Davis Hanson, and Senator Ted Cruz are also in the top 50, with other right-of-center strongholds like Bill O’Reilly, Andrew Klavan, and Steven Crowder making the top 100. Voices such as Tim Pool, Jesse Kelly, Sean Hannity, Benny Johnson, and Lou Dobbs also earned a spot in the top 200.

Of the top 50 “News” shows, 16—or approximately a third—are hosted by conservative voices, signaling a strong conservative footprint in the podcast world. Even outside of the “News” category, right-of-center shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience” (which ranks as the third highest national podcast in any category) and “The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast,” as well as traditional religious podcasts like Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “The Bible in a Year,” often beat out left-wing favorites like “Pod Save America,” “The Rachel Maddow Show,” and other MSNBC-produced shows like the left-wing “Prosecuting Donald Trump.”

(Nota bene: readers looking for a conservative podcast to follow should be sure to tune in to AMAC’s “Better for America,” hosted by AMAC CEO Rebecca Weber. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and AMAC’s YouTube channel.)

Though Apple’s rankings fluctuate slightly, the presence of conservatives on the podcast charts only appears to be growing stronger—a clear sign that large swaths of American citizens are hungry for content that dissents from left-wing political orthodoxy and openly promotes conservative points of view.

The rise of conservative podcasts has been several years in the making—and unsurprisingly, prominent voices on the left have already begun to sound the alarm. “I think the sheer volume and consistency of right-wing shows that currently populate the charts tells us something quite real,” Vulture writer Nicholas Quah worried in a 2020 piece.

Additionally, according to Pew Research, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to listen to content that clearly expresses political opinions. “Among podcast listeners overall, Republicans who listen to podcasts are also somewhat more likely to be listening to content with political opinions,” the report states. “About three-in-ten podcast listeners who are Republicans (31%) say they listen to podcasts that include a host’s or guest’s opinions about government and politics, vs. 21% of Democratic listeners.”

What this suggests is that the conservative establishment and the Republican Party have a vital opportunity to reach and activate voters through podcasts. The success of hosts such as Matt Walsh in mobilizing his audience to pressure the Tennessee legislature to ban the University of Vanderbilt’s transgender clinic from performing surgeries on minors demonstrates the potential of podcasts as a political tool for the conservative movement.

For a digital medium that has long been considered a stronghold of the left, this trend should be taken as a significant victory for the right. Much as conservatives have dominated talk radio in recent decades, we may be witnessing the birth of a new generation of opportunities for the conservative cause, reaching voters directly through podcasts.

The rise of conservative podcasters should also remind conservative Americans that their values and beliefs are far more widespread and popular than the corporate media would have them believe. One of the primary goals of the liberal press is to convince right-of-center Americans that their principles and way of life are antiquated and dying – a narrative that is completely undermined by the surging popularity of conservative voices in the podcast space.

That alone is reason enough to queue up a conservative podcast on your next road trip, visit the gym, or time spent simply relaxing at home.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.