Freshman Sebastian Wheeler lays on his couch after a tiring day at school. All he wants to do is scroll through social media and check up on his favorite influencers and celebrities. His rest gets interrupted by his whiny dog, eager to be walked.

As he wants to continue scrolling but knows his dog needs walking, he opens up Apple Podcasts, finding shows by his favorite influencers. “I listen to Trisha Paytas because I like what she talks about and think that she’s controversial, but funny,” Wheeler said.

Started in the early 2000s, podcasts are sources for information, turning speakers to experts in the podcast field. According to Podcast Index, there are about 4.3 million podcasts currently online. When looking through the most popular podcasts of 2024, a great chunk have hosts who have come from a television, musical or social media background.

Celebrities and influencers publish podcasts to enlarge their preexisting fan base and gain further social media presence. A large number of celebrities have gone with the trend and started a podcast of their own.
The most popular podcast as of 2024 is The Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by Joe Rogan. The podcast is classified as entertainment, comedy, and long-form conversation interviews with two or three hour long episodes. Prior to and aside from his podcast, Rogan has been a comedian for over 30 years and has aired comedy specials. He launched The Joe Rogan Experience in 2009 and since then has posted over 2,000 episodes.

Similar to Rogan, The Office actresses Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey premiered their podcast, Office Ladies, in 2019. The friends from the popular sitcom deep-dive each episode from the show down to the scene, occasionally hosting guests from the cast, production team and writers of the show. “My family, for a while, was listening to the Office Ladies. It was really fun for a while but I wasn’t a super big fan of that particular podcast,” theater teacher Dr. Julian Lazarus said.

Celebrity podcasts have had their hits, but they can also be highly controversial. After a meme of Haliey Welch drunk during a street interview blew up, Welch took the views and popularity as her chance for fame. After her first episode was posted, media reviews claimed that Welch was not fit for the influencer life and that the episode was all over the place. “I think that it’s very interesting how she got a lot of followers, but I don’t think it’s beneficial because it doesn’t really have a purpose,” freshman Charlotte Saslowsky said.

Aside from actresses and influencers, professional athletes have dabbled in the podcast industry. The best example of this successful transition is from NFL stars, Jason and Travis Kelce, having gained a following on their podcast, New Heights. The podcast, published in September 2022, reached a high level of popularity in February 2023 when the brothers competed head-to-head in Super Bowl LVII. Their conversations vary between football news, off-field stories and guest conversations. The podcast recently signed a hundred-million dollar deal with Amazon, so the Kelce brothers are in it for the long run.