The Scoop: Podcasts influence election season like never before

With a week and a half  until Election Day, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are doing everything in their power to engage and sway notoriously hard-to-reach segments of the American electorate.

One rare area of agreement between the candidates has been on the power of podcasts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is set to record an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the top-rated podcast in the United States. 

The Journal noted that Trump has made around 17 podcast appearances so far this year, while Harris has appeared on 10 podcasts this year, appearing as both vice president and the Democratic nominee for president. She was to tape an interview with podcaster and social scientist Brené Brown on Friday. Brown’s show is popular among older women.

Why it matters: People may not be reading newspapers or tuning into the evening news as much as they used to, but this doesn’t mean they’re not interested in world events and important information. 

As a result, PR professionals need to make podcasts a part of their earned media strategy, since they’ve become a regular part of many Americans’ daily lives, regardless of their background.

A report by Edison Research in May showed that podcasts reach people of all ages. About 59% of 12- to 34-year-olds listen to podcasts every month, and 55% of 35- to 54-year-olds do the same. 

Podcast listeners are also diverse, with 48% of Black Americans and 43% of Hispanic Americans listening every month. The number of U.S. women listening to podcasts has reached a new high, with 45% listening monthly and 32% weekly.

In the case of this presidential race, both the Trump and Harris camps are looking for ways to engage with key demographics.

The “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, which reaches around 15 million viewers every week, is attractive to both Harris and Trump, given its listenership of 71% male and evenly split between high school and post-secondary graduates. 

For comparison, a CNN town hall featuring Harris on Wednesday drew 3.2 million viewers, with over 700,000 of them falling within the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, according to The Hill. The article noted that this figure was less than half of the 7 million viewers who watched her one-on-one interview with Fox News the previous week.

Harris had agreed to appear on Rogen’s show, despite her initial hesitation to participate in longer-form, unscripted interviews, per the Journal. However, organizing a taping has proven challenging. But it all underscores just how important podcasts have become. 

Many of these listeners may be hearing from the candidates in a meaningful way for the first time. These shows offer a great chance for candidates to make a strong impression and connect with listeners on a deeper level than they could through a tweet or TV ad. While a podcast may not be enough to win someone’s vote, it can be an important first step toward doing so.

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Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.