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The 2024 General Election marked a milestone for political podcasts in the U.K.<\/p>\n
Once a niche on the fringes of mainstream media, political podcasts have now come of age. They\u2019ve spurred best-selling book launches, sold-out shows and for the first time, broken into mainstream TV, putting these stars of new media front-and-center during one of the biggest media moments of the year.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s swathe of newly minted political podcasters became some of the most important of the campaign, relaunching their careers and cementing their position as entrepreneurs in their own right.<\/p>\n
Former political heavyweights like Alastair Campbell, Rory Stewart, Ed Balls, George Osbourne and some of the BBC\u2019s former top talent all took a leading role in the election coverage on the country\u2019s major television networks, blazing the trail for a new world of podcasting that\u2019s taking on the mainstream media.<\/p>\n
At first glance, the pairing of Former Conservative Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart and Tony Blair\u2019s Labour Communications Chief Alastair Campbell might appear like an odd couple, but in the space of just two short years, their show has blossomed into the U.K.\u2019s most popular politics podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
HENRY NICHOLLS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Rest is Politics<\/em><\/a> lifts the lid on the secrets of Westminster, and in their own words offers\u00a0 \u201c\u2026an insider\u2019s view on politics at home and abroad, while bringing back the lost art of disagreeing agreeably\u201d. In January 2023, the duo added Leading, <\/em>a weekly interview series with some of the world\u2019s biggest names in politics.<\/p>\n And in April 2024, the podcast expanded across the Atlantic, launching The Rest is Politics USA, <\/em>creating another unlikely couple with political heavyweights Anthony Scaramucci (former White House press secretary for Donald Trump) and Katty Kay (formerly BBC World News Anchor).<\/p>\n Lorne Thomson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Stewart and Campbell are published by Goalhanger podcasts, which is now one of the U.K.\u2019s largest independent podcast networks with a reported 17.5 million downloads each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Goalhanger was founded by football pundit and former England footballer Gary Linekar, and the company has grown a roster of successful podcasts including The Rest is Football<\/em>, Empire<\/em>, and Match of the Day Top 10.<\/em><\/p>\n Euan Cherry\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Financial information on Goalhanger is limited, but company accounts<\/a> show its \u201ccurrent assets\u201d more than tripled to \u00a3842,936 ($1.08 million) last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n 20,000<\/p>\n The number of sold-out live shows. <\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The company\u2019s revenue-sharing model means when their podcasters win, Goalhanger wins too. That makes Stewart and Campbell one of its most-prized assets.<\/p>\n The Rest is Politics<\/em> has grown into a sizable media franchise in its own right, boasting premium memberships and live shows across the U.K., selling out arenas as large as the O2 Arena in London with 20,000 seats.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stewart and Campbell have both rebooted their careers, spanning bestseller book deals<\/a> and presenting gigs, including coveted slots on Channel 4 TV\u2019s overnight coverage of the 2024 General Election, marking a significant transition from new media to mass media television.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, revenues from advertising, subscriptions, and live shows like their O2 performance have beefed up the pair\u2019s bank accounts as well. Speaking to the Times of London<\/em><\/a> last year, Stewart said: \u201cIt\u2019s extraordinary. It\u2019s good money. I\u2019d say it\u2019s Championship footballer money.\u201d Championship footballers, playing in the second tier of the English football league, routinely earn thousands of pounds a month.<\/p>\n Stewart and Campbell were joined on Channel 4 for the U.K.\u2019s election night coverage by Emily Maitlis, formerly one of the BBC\u2019s biggest stars, known for her 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, the disgraced Duke of York with links to Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n Maitlis is now best-known as one-third of The News Agents<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>the arch-rival to The Rest is Politics, <\/em>which it has continued to battle at the top of the charts since the podcast launched in August 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n The News Agents <\/em>features two other superstar heavyweight presenters alongside Maitlis, including her former BBC Newsnight colleague Lewis Goodall and BBC News\u2019 North America correspondent Jon Sopel. Published by radio and advertising giant Global, poaching some of the BBC\u2019s biggest talent at the time of launch was seen as a significant milestone in the meteoric rise of podcasting in the U.K.<\/p>\n Jordan Pettitt\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Freed from the strict reporting constraints of the BBC, The News Agents <\/em>gained rapid popularity by, for the first time, allowing listeners to hear what seasoned journalists Maitlis, Goodall and Sopel really think. Publishing episodes every weekday, the show has seen commercial success since its launch, attracting launch sponsorship from BT and a recently extended deal with HSBC UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
\nThe News Agents\u00a0<\/h2>\n