Podcast diversity is ‘woeful’, says new report

64% of the hosts of the most popular US podcasts of 2024 were men - and the top shows are significantly less diverse than the top movies, TV or music, a report from USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative says. Shows with video are more likely to have male hosts; the worst gender balance is with business and technology podcasts, where men host 92% of shows. Women-hosted podcasts are more than twice as likely to have female guests - but even so, guests on women-hosted podcasts are still 54% male. The document describes the lack of non-white hosts as “woeful”.

The study notes that true crime shows are most likely to be hosted by women - who host 53% of the top shows. That good news is slightly blunted by the fact that these shows are the least diverse at 90% white, and, of course, “stories focus on grisly acts often committed against women”.

Podcast Movement will be free to attend this March, at SXSW in Austin TX, it’s been announced in Sounds Profitable; with details of a new format, and the event’s values. “If you loved the hotel-based format of Podcast Movement, 2026 is going to feel like a departure,” says Bryan Barletta. The piece also outlines the event’s approach to diversity. (Podnews has a 50% business partnership with Podcast Movement).

Spotify’s Megaphone has renewed its IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines Certification. The company was already on v2.2; the new certification was added to the IAB’s website yesterday. Parent company Spotify abruptly pulled all IAB certification in April last year; only to change its mind two months later.