TheWrap Special Report: Of 109 shows surveyed over a 31-day period across four podcast networks, only 23 were hosted by women
Women represent roughly half of podcast listeners nationwide, but an overwhelming majority of the top-charting shows across the four major podcast platforms are hosted by men. In fact, men hosted or co-hosted 79% of the most-downloaded or listened-to podcasts over the last month, according to an analysis by TheWrap.
Spotify had the most female-hosted shows on its top 20 list — 28% — during the 31 straight days in June and July analyzed by TheWrap. Meanwhile, women hosted 17% of Stitcher’s top podcasts and 23% of those on Apple Podcasts. The percentage fell to just 6% of the top shows on Google Podcasts, which ranks only its top 12 shows, by downloads. (Stitcher and Spotify rank the top shows by downloads, while Apple’s algorithm analyzes several factors, including consumption, to create its charts.)
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The only woman-led show to appear on each of the four charts surveyed was “Office Ladies,” hosted by former “The Office” actresses Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Several shows with female hosts hit No. 1 on one of the podcast charts during the 31 days surveyed, including “1619,” hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones and produced by the New York Times, which topped the Apple Podcast rankings for six days in June, reflecting a renewed interest in the show’s main topics of racial relations in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests over the killing of George Floyd.
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“Call Her Daddy,” a sex advice show hosted by Alexandra Cooper and produced by Barstool Sports, made the Spotify and Apple top 20 lists every day surveyed. The show topped the Spotify rankings three times in early June when Cooper very publicly cut ties with her former co-host Sofia Franklyn and began to host the show solo. “Call Her Daddy” also topped the Apple Podcasts list three times.
“Park Predators,” a true-crime podcast created and hosted by Ashley Flowers, topped the Apple Podcasts rankings on July 8, the day after it launched its first episode. Flowers’ other true-crime podcast, “Crime Junkie,” made both Stitcher and Apple Podcasts’ top 20 list every day surveyed.
While these female-led shows did stand out, Joe Rogan dominated all the podcast charts. The only show that regularly hit No. 1 every day surveyed was Rogan’s interview show “The Joe Rogan Experience.” While it previously wasn’t available on Spotify, Rogan’s chart-topping talk show will join the platform by Sept. 1 and be available exclusively on the service by the end of this year. Rogan’s new $100 million deal is significant enough for him to agree to giving up broadcasting and monetizing full episodes on YouTube, his main platform.
The gender disparity stands in contrast to the demographics of podcast listenership, which is evenly split between genders, according to the 2020 Infinite Dial digital media survey by Edison Research released in March.
Overall, podcast listenership is also on the rise. According to research firm Statista, 88 million people in the U.S. listened to podcasts on a monthly basis in 2019, up from 75 million the year prior. Statista’s October report estimated that count would grow to 120 million by the end of 2021, an “annual growth rate between 2019 and 2023 pegged at 17%.”
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Podcast host and producer Kristen Meinzer, who co-hosts the podcast “By the Book” with Jolenta Greenberg, attributed the lack of female-dominated shows to the fact that most criticism of podcasts is done by male listeners.
“There are more podcasts hosted by men. There are more podcast critics, I’m presuming, because most media critics are men,” Meinzer told TheWrap. “If all of these shows are getting the notoriety and elevation of media critics who are mostly men, and most of the hosts are men — a lot of audience building is because of cross-promotion.”
The gender disparity in hosts for popular podcasts may be surprising since women are often more engaged with their favorite shows than male listeners, according to Michael Bosstick, who co-founded (with Raina Penchansky) the female-focused podcast network Dear Media.
“This is an extremely engaged demographic,” Bosstick said. “From a consumer standpoint, high engagement and high purchasing and high listener (counts). From a talent standpoint, there’s amazing talent that has built what I would say is some of the strongest communities on digital platforms.”
This is the first part of a two-part look at male dominance of podcasts. On Tuesday: Why Female Podcast Hosts Struggle to Crack the Top 20 Charts.
17 TV Shows Based on Podcasts Ranked, From 'Homecoming' to '2 Dope Queens' (Photos)
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Epix, IFC, Matt Sayles/Netflix, Showtime"Desus & Mero" is going strong with its third season and "The Shrink Next Door" premiered just last month. Here are other TV shows based on successful podcasts, with their Metacritic ranking (as of December 3, 2021).
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Oxygen"Up and Vanished" (2018 - )
Metacritic score: n/a
Payne Lindsey's true-crime podcast first became a successful two-part special on Oxygen, exploring the disappearance of Georgia schoolteacher Tara Grinstead. And then it became a series, with Payne and his team exploring a new cold case in each episode.
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Matt Sayles/Netflix
Song Exploder (2020 - )
Metacritic score: n/a
Based on the acclaimed podcast of the same name, the Netflix docu-series takes a look at how the world's greatest musicians have created their songs, while exploring their various creative processes and inspirations.
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Tine Harden/Netflix
Equinox (2020 - )
Metacritic score: n/a
Based on the Danish podcast "Equinox 1985," this Netflix thriller follows a young woman investigating the suspicious circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a group of kids, one of whom was her sister.
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Epix
Slow Burn (2020 - )
Metacritic score: n/a
The true-crime podcast hosted by Leon Neyfakh is now a docuseries on EPIX. Similar to the podcast, Neyfakh dissects historical figures and events and outlines how the lesser-known subplots behind the stories have changed history.
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ABC
"Alex Inc." (2018)
Metacritic score: 49
Zach Braff plays a journalist who quits his job to start his own podcast business -- in a short-lived ABC sitcom very loosely based on Alex Blumberg's "StartUp" podcast about the founding of his own Gimlet Media podcast network.
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National Geographic
"StarTalk" (2015 - )
Metacritic score: 55
Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson adapted his hit podcast into a long-running talk show on NatGeo, with a wide variety of guests beyond the science (and even sci-fi) field.
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USA
"Dirty John" (2018 - )
Metacritic score: 58
Connie Britton and Eric Bana starred in the first season of this true-crime anthology series based on the Wondery podcast about love gone wrong. The second season starred an ill-fated coupled played by Amanda Peet and Christian Slater.
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Amazon Prime
"Lore" (2017 - 18)
Metacritic score: 60
Aaron Mahnke's podcast exploring the true histories behind horror legends like werewolves and vampires inspired an anthology series that blended dramatic scenes, animation and narration and ran for two seasons on Amazon.
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Apple TV+
"The Shrink Next Door" (2021 - )
Metacritic score: 61
The dark comedy series based n the podcast of the same name premiered November 12 on Apple TV+ and follows the dysfunctional and increasingly manipulative relationship between celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Isaac "Ike" Herschkopf and his longtime patient Martin "Marty" Markowitz.
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"Limetown" (2019)
Metacritic score: 62
Jessica Biel starred in this Facebook Watch series that told the fictional story of the disappearance of 300 people at a Tennessee neuroscience facility. However, the show failed to capture the creepy immersiveness of the original podcast and lasted only one season.
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HBO
"The Ricky Gervais Show" (2010 - 12)
Metacritic score: 62
The creator of "The Office" adapted his radio show (with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington) into a podcast, and then into an animated HBO series that made its potty-humor jokes literal.
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IFC
"Comedy Bang! Bang!" (2012 - 16)
Metacritic score: 64
Scott Aukerman adapted his comedy podcast into a parody talk show that ran for five seasons on IFC.
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St. Martin's Press
"The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019)
Metacritic score: 66
The four-part HBO documentary series follows the 1999 disappearance and murder of 18-year-old high school student Hae Min Lee and the conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, which was a case that was covered in the widely popular investigative journalism podcast, "Serial."
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IFC
"Maron" (2013 - 16)
Metacritic score: 71
The sitcom, which was based on the comedian's podcast, stars Marc Maron as a fictionalized version of himself, as he navigates life, trying to balance all his relationships.
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Showtime
"Homecoming" (2018-)
Metacritic score: 75
Julia Roberts starred in the first season of this show, based on Gimlet's fictional podcast about a secret government program to transition U.S. war veterans back to civilian life.
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Amazon Prime
"Desus & Mero" (2019 - )
Metacritic score: 78
Bronx natives Desus Nice and The Kid Mero star in Showtime's first ever talk show, which was adapted from their comedy entertainment podcast "Desus vs. Mero."
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HBO
"2 Dope Queens" (2018 - 19)
Metacritic score: 87
"Daily Show" alum Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson adapted their hit comedy podcast into an HBO series that hits a broad range of topics.
A growing number of TV shows have been inspired by audio hits
"Desus & Mero" is going strong with its third season and "The Shrink Next Door" premiered just last month. Here are other TV shows based on successful podcasts, with their Metacritic ranking (as of December 3, 2021).
Samson Amore
Reporter • samson.amore@thewrap.com • Twitter: @Samsonamore