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In 2015, the only celebrities either contemplating getting into podcasting or already in the industry were people whose careers had either ended due to a string of bad artistic choices or ended in disgrace due to a chronic inability to keep their hands and other bodily areas to themselves.
In 2026, celebrities are flooding into podcasting like prospectors did in the California gold rush of 1848. In fact, there doesn't seem a week go by when a large podcast network like iHeart of Spotify is announcing a new celebrity podcast.
What does Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, and SiriusXM receive from filling the already-overcrowded pipeline with celebrity show?
In effect, celebrities who already have a fanbase can create a podcast almost guaranteed to garner instant listeners. Large corporations embrace certainty and loath risk. It's one reason why there are so many movies are sequels. Maybe the upside is capped, but the downside is minimized. A celebrity podcast is the film version of "a sure thing."
In a 2024 article in the Loyola Phoenix, the student newspaper of Loyola University Chicago, writer Hailey Gates posits, "Podcasts aren't created by influencers and celebrities with an audience in mind -- they already have their audience. They're just finding alternate, effortless ways to keep eyes on them for longer than they already are."
Why celebrities make the leap into podcasting
For celebrities, the benefits of entering podcasting include brand expansion, using this new platform to stay relevant and monetize their existing fanbase, while getting involved in a creative outlet that provides control over content and a direct-to-consumer channel.
Spotify and SiriusXM -- which owns Stitcher -- have been particularly aggressive with signing notable celebrities. What's tripped up some celebrities is their mistaken sense that hosting a podcast is like being a guest on a late-night talk show like Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers, or Colbert, where they gab for a few minutes and the audience eats it up.
Hosting a podcast means streaming constant a monologue or dialogue, and that may be tough for some celebrities, often sheltered from too much exposure to media.
"To be successful at podcasting, celebrities must be skilled at interviewing and find ways to show interest in someone other than themselves," says psychologist Ken Grayson. "That's not always easy for a group of people for which ego and narcissism are necessary tools of the trade."
This focus on celebrity podcasts has given birth to shows such as: It's Happening, which is a podcast from Jersey Shore alums - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Joey Camasta On this podcast, the two "celebs" catch up on their lives in New York and New Jersey, then go through the latest entertainment news and celebrity gossip and discuss their new favorite TV shows. Although pilloried by many professional critics, this show has maintained a high rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from over 6,400 ratings on Apple Podcasts.
To be fair, there are celebrity podcasts with greater acceptance by reviewers. For example, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, and SmartLess, starring Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett are all highly rated by podcast and mainstream media critics.
Don't look now... The celebrities are taking over!
In 2024, The Guardian published a piece critical of the influx of celebrity podcasts. The publication pointed out that celebrities are clogging up podcast charts and taking up, or "smothering," space that could be occupied by independent creators who may offer more compelling content. These shows often rely on existing fame for high rankings rather than the quality of the content itself.
So far, the biggest celebrity podcast debacle happened to the Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex with her 12-episode series, Archetypes, for which she was paid $2o million. That's enough money to fund 40 interview-style independent podcasts, such as Better Call Daddy with Reena Friedman Watts.
"Celebrity interview podcasts frequently feature softball questions, where hosts, often fellow celebrities, fail to ask difficult or probing questions, leading to shallow, PR-driven interviews," says Chris Stone of the Podcast Weekly Strategy Substack. "These podcasts often turn into echo chambers where celebrities and their famous friends simply compliment each other, offer little, or engage in the 'kumbaya' of mutual admiration."
Playing favorites in podcasting
So, there are upsides to celebrity podcasts for listeners. But what are real or potential downsides?
First, celebrities tend to draw all the oxygen out of the podcast bubble. Smart and sharp indie podcasts tend to get cast aside. After all, why listen to a podcast with two nobodies co-hosting when a listener can get an hour from a familiar celebrity. It's a known quantity. Much like the security blanket feeling movie studios try to create with sequels.
Never mind that long-standing interview shows are too often pushed aside. Consider that there's nothing more difficult than interviewing people who had experienced severe trauma in their lives and come out better for it. On The Life Shift podcast, host Matt Gilhooly has candid conversations with people about the pivotal moments that changed their lives forever.
Nina Rodriguez lost her brother when he was only 32. She channeled that grief into a podcast called Grief and Light. Most people find it awkward around people who are grieving, not knowing the right thing to say. Nina Rodriguez expertly interviews those people several times a week on her podcast.
Second, celebrities attract high-dollar contracts from large podcast networks. In a zero-sum investment game, podcasts curtail investment in lesser-known podcast hosts to funnel money to celebrities.
There are so many of these celebrity podcasts that there was a podcast called the Celebrity Podcast Podcast that covered celebrity podcasts. Talk about meta.
Are all those celebrity podcasts flooding the podcasting space, crowding out the potential for unknowns to surface and become household names? Is podcasting becoming Kardashian-ized like reality TV? Questions are in abundance. The answers are elusive.
How about the podcast celebrities?
The irony in this discussion of celebrity podcasts is that there are a multitude of celebrity podcasters in the podcasting world. They are just not known outside of podcasting.
If I walked down the street in Manhattan and spotted recent Podcast Hall Of Fame inductee Arielle Nissenblatt I would immediately fanboy, leaving people who don't know podcasts to murmur, "Who was that?"
"Celebrities from TV, film, and social media enter the podcasting world thinking they are the top of the food chain," says psychologist Ken Grayson. "That's not always the case."
Podcast enthusiast John Kowalczuk attended a live podcast show in Manhattan two years ago of the Salad with A Side Of Fries podcast hosted by Jennifer Trepeck.
"I thought I was at Comic-Con in San Diego," recalls Kowalczuk. "The place was packed, people were visibly excited, and when the host Jenn started the podcast, there was no need for an applause sign like they use on TV. People went crazy, and afterward stood in line for a chance to talk to her. She was a celebrity to these podcast fans."
Is it survival of the celebrity or peaceful co-existence?
There is no doubt that celebrities sliding into podcasting has brought more consumer interest, ad dollars, media attention, and sponsorships. I can make the case that without celebrities, the first podcast award in Golden Globes history may not have happened. I can also make the case that the Golden Globes would have become interested in podcasting without celebrities anyway, primarily because of the industry's hyper-caffeinated growth.
Danny Brown, creator/host of Five Random Questions, agrees about the contribution of celebrities in podcasting but wonders, "Is that really a good thing for the industry if less than one percent of the podcasters, i.e. the celebrities, benefit?"
Independent podcasts account for about 90 percent of all downloads, listens and views in the industry. Considering the benefits and drawbacks of celebrities in podcasting, the needs of independent podcasters, and more importantly, the preferences of millions of consumers who download/listen/view these indie shows should not be discounted simply because the indie entrepreneurs do not have an acceptable Q Score, which calculates how well a celebrity is known and how highly they are regarded by the public, essentially determining their "star power" and marketability.
