The hosts of the top 100 podcasts of 2024 were overwhelmingly white and male, a new comprehensive study from USC reveals. Of the top podcasts, 64% were hosted by men, while 77% of the hosts were white, underlining a severe lack of diversity in the medium that continues to rise in popularity and has become a cornerstone of viewing time on YouTube.
Even expanding beyond the top 100, 66.3% of the hosts of the top 592 podcasts were male, and 79.2% were white. In both gender and race, podcasts trail other parts of the entertainment industry — 50% of the top 100 films of 2024 had a female lead, and among the most popular TV shows of last year, 44.9% of the series regulars were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.
The report, titled “Inequality in Popular Podcasts,” was authored by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, based on podcast data from Spotify and additional podcast industry reports. The first-of-its-kind study examines the top 100 podcasts of 2024 and a total of 592 popular podcasts.
“Podcasts have become an essential platform for information, entertainment, and connection,” said Dr. Smith. “This study underscores both the reach of podcasting and the opportunity to ensure the voices behind the mic reflect the audiences they serve.”
According to the study, women were most likely to host podcasts in the genres of true crime (53%); arts, society, and culture (43.3%), news (41.2%), and education (40%). Women were least likely to host programs focused on business and technology (7.7%) and sports and fitness (18.9%).
Women of color were least likely to host podcasts – 6.6% of the top 100 podcast hosts were women of color, as were 8.1% of the 592 popular podcasts examined. Here, too, podcasts fall behind other forms of entertainment, as 12.7% of leads/co-leads, 22.6% of series regulars, and 15.4% of popular music artists in 2024 were women of color.
The news doesn’t get any better when expanding the search to guests instead of hosts — nearly two-thirds (62.6%) of the more than 4,000 episodes evaluated did not feature a woman guest. A total of 37.4% of the episodes featured at least one woman as a guest.
Women were most likely to appear as guests when a podcast had a woman host. When a podcast had at least one woman host, 54.7% of guests were men and 45.3% were women. When a podcast had no women hosts, 82.1% of guests were men and 17.9% were women.
“Podcasting’s power lies in its potential as a democratized medium, where anyone with an idea and a microphone can find an audience,” Dr. Smith continued. “As the format matures, that accessibility can help challenge the old patterns of entertainment and pave the way for a more inclusive audio landscape.”
The full report is available here.
