Politico Bets on New Podcast Push to Take on TV's Sunday News Cycle
The political-news outlet recently launched a new podcast with former NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns, and would like the show, 'The Conversation,' to vie with the nation's Sunday programs in more direct manner. Thanks to video distribution via YouTube, says Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami, executives believe they have a shot.
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'Our ambitions are not small,' she tells Variety during a recent interview. 'We do think we can, and we should, compete with other big players in this area. And I do think that having YouTube as a platform really does allow you to compete directly with the broadcasters in this day and age.' Politico's hopes for Burns' Sunday program are bolstered by the fact that Jonathan Greenberger, the former ABC News Washington Bureau chief and executive producer of 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos,' is an executive vice president for the Axel Springer-owned news unit.
'The Conversation' is just one of a handful of new podcasts that Politico is in the process of launching — and in which it is ramping up investment. The company has hired two new executives to build out its audio and video content. Ben Reininga, formerly the global head of news at Snapchat, has been named vice president of audio and video, while Haley Thomas, formerly senior producer of CNN's audio division, has been named head of content of audio and video. Reininga will report to Greenberger, while Thomas will report to Reininga. Separately, the NBC News executive who had been tasked with oversight of 'Meet the Press,' Carrie Budoff Brown, has returned to Politico, where she once served as editor in chief.
In a different era, the Sunday talk shows were viewed as a stand-alone part of the national news cycle. The last efforts to penetrate their ranks came in 2009, when CNN launched 'State of the Union,' and 1996, when Fox News Channel debuted 'Fox News Sunday.' Today's media consumers, however, are more likely to watch video podcasts or tee up short-form audio programs — and don't consider such products inferior to those produced by mainstream TV. Approximately 58% of Americans say they prefer to get news on a digital device, according to a 2024 survey conducted by Pew Research — higher than the 32% who said they preferred TV.
Politico has other podcasts and videocasts at the ready. The company recently launched 'The Playbook Podcast with Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns.' Soon to come: 'Corridors with Rachael Bade,' built around the reporting of its Capitol Bureau Chief. The company's new audio executives will have a hand in determining future products, says Sheikholeslami.
While podcasts have historically appealed to a younger audience, Sheikholeslami, herself a former CEO of New York Public Radio, believes the format is crucial if Politico is to draw additional engagement form its current aficionados. 'Great journalism has to have a sort of multifaceted distribution strategy,' she says, adding: 'We know that people have very busy lives, and sometimes they don't have time to read all the great stuff that we publish every day. But they do have 20 minutes or 15 minutes to listen to a podcast.'
And they may appreciate a break with some of the conventions of the format. The traditional coterie of Sunday programs 'sort of assume that viewers haven't spent their entire week immersed in the news,' she says. Politico's take on the format offers longer conversations that don't have to be broken up in the same way the predecessor shows are. 'You can get to a depth that is hard to do when you are limited by a shorter amount of time.'
If Politico's efforts bear fruit, the outlet's current core readership of policymakers and lawmakers will spend more time with its content, no matter how it's consumed., says Sheikholeslami. 'It's not necessarily about expanding to a new audience. I think it's much more about how can we be more useful to the audience that already engages with us very deeply?'
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