---
title: 'How YouTube Podcasts Predicted the 2024 Election'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJI9Rw-EZ0'
video_id: 'ZOJI9Rw-EZ0'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1798
---

# How YouTube Podcasts Predicted the 2024 Election

> Source: [How YouTube Podcasts Predicted the 2024 Election](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOJI9Rw-EZ0)

## Summary

This video analyzes the 2024 US presidential election through the lens of YouTube podcast appearances, revealing a stark contrast between Trump and Harris's media strategies. It argues that long-form, authentic content on new media platforms like YouTube has become a decisive factor in modern political campaigns, effectively predicting the election outcome.

### Key Points

- **Viewership Disparity** [00:01] — Trump appeared on 14 podcasts that garnered 124 million views on YouTube, while Harris appeared on 5 podcasts with only 4 million views.
- **The Podcast Election** [00:13] — Ray Chow noted that every presidential election is a snapshot of the media landscape, and this one is being called the 'podcast election.'
- **Trump's New Media Strategy** [03:48] — Trump adopted a strategy of appearing on long-form, friendly podcasts, whereas Harris relied more on traditional adversarial media like 60 Minutes and Fox News.
- **Available Time on YouTube** [06:01] — Trump had 16 hours and 53 minutes of available content on YouTube, while Harris had only 3 hours.
- **Trump Barbie Concept** [10:09] — Trump's strategy is compared to 'Trump Barbie' – showing up in many different forms (e.g., McDonald's worker, garbage man) to maximize familiarity.
- **Historical Comparison** [13:28] — The 2024 election is likened to the 1960 TV debate between Nixon and JFK, marking a major shift in media's role in politics.
- **Adversarial Formats Like Jubilee** [16:59] — Jubilee's videos featuring candidates against groups (e.g., Charlie Kirk got 21 million views) represent a new, more authentic adversarial format.
- **Authenticity as Currency** [23:48] — Raw, unedited vulnerability is now essential; long-form podcasts make it hard to be fake, and authenticity resonates with audiences.
- **Familiarity Through Quantity** [27:28] — High-volume appearances build trust and likability, as demonstrated by Logan Paul's comeback via his podcast.

### Conclusion

The 2024 election underscores that long-form, authentic, and high-volume media engagement on YouTube and new media is critical for political success, and this trend will likely define future campaigns.

## Transcript

Donald Trump went on 14 podcasts that got 124 million views on YouTube and KLA Harris went on five podcasts that got four million views Ray Chow from box
said that every presidential election is a snapshot in time of the media landscape and this election is being referred to all over as the podcast election and a lot of those podcasts took place on YouTube so what exactly is
the state of the media landscape right now now that's going to be the basis for right so in this episode we're going to break down the details of the podcast election we're also going to talk about what that showed us about the state of
YouTube a Colin smir episode about politics doesn't happen often let's get into it but it's happening it's happening here we go buckle
they've been like really like a fever dream yeah like really wild to watch um this play out and specifically play out across YouTube so last night I just opened a Google spreadsheet and just wrote Trump and kamla and I just started
filling in the blanks of what shows did they do on YouTube specifically like I find I I might have missed some but let me tell you the ones that I found I'll start with KLA because that was a shorter list okay so the ones that I
could find were call her daddy yep which is a massive podcast a at women yeah with Alex Cooper um and there was a seven minute clip or seven or eight on YouTube all the smoke which is Matt
Barnes former NBA player his show and Stephen Jackson and Stephen Jackson The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne the checkup with Dr Mike Dr Mike got in the mix okay and Club Shay with Shannon sharp which was the most
viewed episode uh of you know comma sitting down with someone at 1.6 million views the total of those views is four million views across those five shows now when I went over to the Trump side I started
with the Bryson D chambo dambo is that dambo dambo wow let's just say the golfer Bryson yeah the Bryson video of trump and him playing golf which is not technically a podcast but it's a very long video it's a hourong video of them
hanging out and playing golf together yeah and that did what is golf but views then you go down the list and you go he went on Logan Paul's podcast impulsive he went on all in he went on Aiden Ross's stream which when you click
Aiden Ross's stream which when you click into that is like this crazy scene of bunch of people behind him he went on Lex Lex Freedman he went on Dr Phil's show Phil
Freedman he went on Dr Phil's show Phil in the blanks of course which did 17 million views on YouTube yeah he went on the the Dave Ramsey Show which was uploaded to his personal YouTube channel went on the Ben Shapiro show he went on
Andrew Schultz's show full send with the nek boys he went on busing with the boys he went on the Patrick B David show six feet under with Mark Callaway a former WWE wrestler Joe Rogan Experience obviously which is the most infamous one
yeah and Theo Von which is probably the second most infamous appearance this is4 million views for Trump on YouTube and the reason I clarify that is because all these shows have other distribution platforms right maybe outside of uh
Bryson's golf day like Rogan across audio platforms probably does equivalent if not more than what it does on YouTube and it did 46 million views on YouTube and it did 46 million views on YouTube yeah um so heavily male focused but also
a lot of comedians so when you when you look at just at face value the two strategies or the two appearances one is obviously one side adopted the New Media landscape of let's put our candidate on long form
podcasts and let's put him in environments where it's a little bit out of control and yet friendly I think you have to say right like K Harris did uh 60 minutes she did Brett Bayer on Fox
those were much more adversarial right like traditional media if you choose to go on certain platforms it can be a lot more adversarial the podcast that KLA Harris went on and that Trump went on it's kind
of like an endorsement it's a safe space to hopefully be yourself and appeal to quote that every presidential election is a snapshot in time of the media landscape I actually think the episodes that Trump went on is more reflective of
the current media landscape and where it's moving and where it's moving um the the the reason I say that is cu if we look at like what is that evolution the obvious is the move from traditional Legacy Media to New
Media when we look at the social media landscape of the past 10 years you know we've gone from this world of these platforms being user generated content you know Instagram is a place where I just anyone can post uh you know photos
and videos or YouTube people are posting interesting Vlogs and it's gone from there to like established episodic shows with massive
audiences like Theo Von's show has a massive week- to week audience in the massive week- to week audience in the millions yeah so that move is everyone knows it everyone who listens to our show knows that's happening this
moment and seeing Trump's strategy felt like this this deep stamp uh especially when you look at the viewership and I think that it's not just the viewership the next thing I did in this Excel sheet is write down total time available with
each candidate on YouTube for Trump that was 16 hours and YouTube for Trump that was 16 hours and 53 minutes and for kamla that was three hours we're talking about like available time to click in and watch someone let's
the most DieHard audiences the audiences that will leave their homes to go to an that will leave their homes to go to an event kaat right streamer live unedited Raw for incredibly long periods of time podcasters let's talk about
podcasters and primarily comedians like the shows he went on whether it's Schultz or theovon long unedited and the draw is come see me in person yeah come to my show it's a good point about The Comedians and like if
you if you start a media strategy with the desired outcome which is activate a community to go take an action to go to the polls or to mail in a like if you start there with the what what a success look like if you nail
this media strategy and then you go backwards and you go where are the activated it's a really good point that comedy podcasts are those environments and KLA went on like much more uh traditional media Outlets she also had
way less time um I don't want to I don't want to sit here and say like cable and traditional didn't doesn't play a factor in you know presidential media strategies like I think it actually will and it probably will even in 2028 it's
just the rounding out of it and the impact the outsized impact in my opinion of the 16 hours that are available on YouTube of Donald Trump that is an outsized impact and if we can just play even two clips of trump and kamla back
to back I think it's an important thing to experience where you have you know Trump laughing with the guys on a couch first are sitting down with with Mr President Mr President thankk you so much for
being here it's a very familiar environment of him on Schultz and Alex excellent job at making guests feel comfortable and making them feel you know but I don't know if you saw this in the beginning of that episode it shows
that Alex brought her set to KLA and rebuilt it yeah where she was and I significant thing you don't do too many long form interviews what made you want
to do callard daddy today well I think you and your listeners have really got this thing right which is one of the best ways to communicate with people is to be real I think like those if we just look at how they both looked and
felt traditional media makes you look and feel like very put together it's and feel like very put together it's like very feels prestigious moment right to get to interview the president or a potential president and in the past I
moment the few creators who've had the opportunity to like have a creat or have a president or pres presidential candidate on their channel it's been an elevated sort of like look and feel and it's normally shorter and I think Trump
went the opposite way he was like I'm GNA make it so normal for me to show up didn't even think I was going to show up like your small crypto podcast I'm sorry
because I actually don't know it's one of the biggest but like a crypto podast not in my it's not in my data set but like I know what you're talking about a Channel but like just to show up in people's places to show up in places
where most audiences probably didn't think he was going to show up and to do it over and over and over again in the style that those creators actually do MH he was able to become so familiar to people I actually think Rogan set is the
sets toally right it is just one of the most familiar looking sets and to see there was was kind of jarring it is kind of like you're you know back in the day like a celebrity Cameo happen you're like what are they doing in the Friends
Coffee Shop um I think Trump's strategy was like Trump Barbie and I'll explain this you know how there's like there's Dr Barbie and there's like jet ski Barbie there's like every type of Barbie and I think it was like how many places
versions of me can show up everywhere even down to the imagery of him working at a MC McDonald's there's McDonald's Trump or doing an interview as a garbage man in the truck oh there's garbage man Trump even the the convicted felon
imagery right it's like oh there's felon Trump and you like he like tweeted it shirts I think he sold it on shirts uh after he survived the assassination intemp that photo it was like oh there's like American hero
Trump that's a really interesting point right that like whether it was photos or cast appearances his strategy was just I will be every Trump mhm the same way
buildings and companies he was like I do Stakes I do vodka yeah that's a good point he just sprayed all over media so if we so the
contrasting where the current landscape is you think back to 2020 which was kind of a strange time for the election because it was during the pandemic we go back to like 2016 and we think about would like Trump at that time when he
was running or Hillary Clinton it would have been really weird to see them on long form podcasts I don't think I understood the power of New understood the power of New Media until I experienced this election
of course on this show we are proponents of yeah New Media and the power that it has but I don't think I really saw it and it always has had that in elections you have FDR with the Fireside Chats which were just very long extended radio
episodes and sessions right with him speaking to the country 1960 the first televised debate nion sweating and people you should explained that because people probably don't know that so in 1960 uh they had the first televised
debate and it was JFK versus Nixon and Nixon was sweating he looked old JFK is Nixon was sweating he looked old JFK is tan good-looking charismatic charismatic and JFK wins that election and people look back on it as like oh the TV debate
was the Tipping Point for that election and in a snapshot in time the media landscape was television it was like Wow television is here it is powerful 2008 yeah you have Barack Obama and now you have YouTube which came out in 2005 and
you have social media and like Obama was one of the first candidates to like significant way and create like a movement amongst young people with social media and also to like read mean tweets on late night and to show up in a
way and like he was very charismatic a great incredibly comfortable yeah super comfortable and that is now like you know a requirement him being seen as like the cool president had to do with the media that he was a part of right in
comparison to John McCain who was not taking to the media in the same way so there has always been this thread of humanization of candidates through media humanization of candidates through media mhm today I think people will look back
in history the same way they look back on the 1960 debate with Nixon this was the podcast election this was The Joe Rogan episode election I do think that's how like history books I agree will write about it I agree with that and
this wasn't the podcast election also wasn't uh reduced to just the interesting right there's a cast of characters on each side um you know obviously you have the VPS on each side JD Vance went on Rogan as
JD Vance went on Rogan as well uh Tim Waltz played Madden with AOC on Twitch which I thought was really kind of strange you know it didn't didn't really connect um and then you had Elon
Musk on the cast of characters of of the Trump side that also went on Rogan like in a row it was like Trump JD Elon that's Rogan did like the full not that Rogan wasn't open to also and other people but yeah it was the full spectrum
of and then there was there was um there was cubin also on KLA side who who went and uh did a lot of the like did Schultz did um Allin um did a few other shows um
that the the flagrant guys said that that they also reached out to kamla um Rogan talked about reaching out to kamla um so like the the offers were on the table but I I I think the um the cast of characters was also an interesting thing
the one video that I wanted to bring up on YouTube that I saw was uh Obama on Vic blend on the the haircut show which is like a really dope like cool setup uh out like the the concentric Circle starting to like spread of cast of
characters also everyone's teams are showing up on podcasts yeah yeah it's on and this is not going politics does not stop and like political media does not stop and like political media does not stop it is all the time in America
and I'm curious to see if from this point on the role that podcast and YouTube play for the next four years leading up to the next election yeah to see President Trump on podcast from this
point on is that gonna be a major part of the strategy oh I have something important to say I'm gonna show up on Rogan I'm show up I think that door has Rogan I'm show up I think that door has been bust wide open and and probably and
thinking the same thing who do we have that who do we have who gets on these shows now yeah so that they are incredibly familiar and trusted in four years yeah yeah yeah you know you think about that
metric of available time and time spent over the next four years like who who is going to win that battle over the next four years and and what are those formats going to look like and you know I don't think it's smart for um either
candidate or or candidates in the future honestly to make their own shows I think unless it's natural to you like AOC gets on her Instagram and goes live all the time sure and you watch it it feels
pretty natural to her like she's very comfortable in that role and if that's what's comfortable for you great the president of the Philippines also was a vlogger before he got elected continues to Vlog yeah I think if it's not
comfortable to you audiences see through it and that's the problem so let's talk YouTube videos that I felt were extremely significant during this election that feel representative of of the future um
and the majority of those came from Jubilee that I watched the Jubilee Charlie Kirk they did it with Ben Shapiro they did it with Pete budajudge Shapiro they did it with Pete budajudge and those videos are very long and it's
you know Pete Budaj jedge versus 25 undecided voters Charlie Kirk versus maybe Harris supporters I think it was it's it's basically like the person versus a group of you know adversarial or people who are against them yeah it's
a sort of reinvention of the sort of CNN town hall right where you have the candidate up on stage and then generally there are pre-selected questions it a question but it's not like that at all I know it's a reinvention of that it
doesn't feel like that the Charlie Kirk one did 21 million views the Pete budy judge one is 56 minutes long and did a couple million views in the first couple hours like these are really significant formats that could inform how political
content moves forward it's the the next chapter in my mind no doubt because this was the podcast election but none of these podcasts were adversarial and and you don't expect them to be I don't expect uh Alex Cooper to all of a sudden
that's not what it is it's like an endorsement when she has KLA Harris on endorsement when she has KLA Harris on but I would have really loved to hear kamla on Rogan and Trump on call her daddy and a lot of people also wanted to
hear Rogan push back more on Trump yeah right but it didn't happen and I think chapter three of this is going to be formats like
surrounded from Jubilee where a candidate is willing to put themsel in an adversarial environment for a very long extended uncut period of time and we get to see how do they handle adversity from someone in their face
knowing they that they're being watched because that is incredibly vulnerable it's one thing to be in a room of people who agree with you and are trying to make everybody laugh yeah and trying to to convey sort of friendship by the end
it's another thing to be like now I am okay speaking my mind freely and being myself and being comfortable so I said en I said this to you before but I think that we like there should be a uh Democratic vote on
the selected podcasters for the next election cycle so we pick five or six podcasters and they're like a healthy mix right there's like a healthy mix of
those hosts and then the candidate both candidates have to go on all I think to see roundtables like instead of debates together and there's like a more round table with some really good
conversationalists who can drive the conversation um and I wonder if Jubilee and this platform that they're building with these formats becomes a host in 2028 for some version of a debate I think this new media and the trend
here will lead to a political environment where we do not feel like we have chosen establishment politicians running
said this to you they're not they weren't comfortable with these politicians who ended up getting organic support Republicans were not super beginning because he had this organic support that was out of their control
like when Bernie Sanders started getting a lot of organic support when Bernie went on Rogan and he essentially got like a Rogan endorsement because it was the candidate they wanted or thought was best or could get the most funding
whatever it was but New Media does not care about that stuff yeah and it's clearly impacting voting habits so we're moving to a place where whoever is the most popular whoever is the most familiar and liked
can potentially be the nominee I think it was really interesting to see that celebrity endorsements didn't really play a factor or didn't feel
know when you get a a Taylor Swift Instagram post does it have the same impact that maybe it used to have I think it's it's continuously like you very uh popular like you just can't argue with that but it does just
generally feel represent like representative of the um the the traditional kind of just buttoned up celebrity versus the messy raw you know the the old form of New Media like Theo vaugh talking to JD
Vance and and Trump about like hard drugs was a wild clip to go but it felt you know Theo's pushing it because he's a comedian but those like at scale like uncontrolled environments feels so different from the the the you know
one thing that we might see in the future the question is can traditional media create environments similar to podcasts and similar to these uncontrolled feeling environments a good case study Pat McAfee Pat McAfee on ESPN
risky that ESPN was like let's pick up this program so in in in four years do some of these traditional networks actually pick up some of these shows you know and distribute them on traditional cable networks where it's like I don't
know it sounds crazy but like do do any of the these exist in that environment my assumption would be that it's way too risky because these are publicly traded companies yeah but so is Disney and ESPN that's true Pat Pat
McAfee is like a pretty he's pretty wild card yeah on air the the I think one of the craziest clips that will go down in history from this election is Dana White
history from this election is Dana White thinking the nek boys Aiden Ross Theo Von and Joe Rogan yeah that felt surreal that felt surreal that was a bizarre moment of of
American politics that solidified that this was where media is this is where this was where media is this is where culture is and this is where politics
is yeah and it was wild not just because they are creators but they are controversial creators right this is not you're like run-of-the-mill Creator they are incredibly controversial and a lot of people probably even know who they
of people know who they are sure millions and millions of people our parents don't know who they are yeah all right so what can we learn from all this uh I I think you know the first the first
thought is that raw unedited vulnerability and authenticity is where we currently are and probably where we'll be for a while meaning the
the the current is unedited where you look at what happens on traditional media it feels very proper it feels very uh controlled it feels very produced and because of that
we're having an opposite reaction to saying hey show me what's really happening long form podcasts show that it's hard in a three-hour time window to it's hard in a three-hour time window to act or be fake or to feel overproduced
like you're Trump sitting in that chair for three hours is wild yeah and I think kamla on call her daddy is is a great example of it um I think she just did too little and and and few and far between um but long form conversation is
is nice because it's unedited twitch again is where we're seeing the most culturally relevant people but that raw vulnerability um the messiness the like mess ups the clearing throat all that think it's a requirement as audiences
consumed too much to sit through something where they feel like it is hyperedited social media already went through that phase and this is like a uh
backlash to that right yeah social media was was extremely hyper curated at one point like the Instagram ification of social media happened uh and this is television went through soap operas real TV like we are now
evolving time spent is one of the most important metrics currently like time spent with someone online I I really think that's why twitch is producing the most culturally relevant creators um live streamers are
can spend eight hours a day with them and long form podcasters are right there with them in terms of cultural relevant yeah I would add to this that it's not just long form podcasters it's long form video podcasters yeah good point
if you don't have video it's not getting clipped right and a big part of the clipped right and a big part of the strategy is Trump will go on a niche podcast like I'm talking about like the crypto podcast because he knows that if
there that's interesting mainstream media is watching that podcast in case something happens fans and people and audience members and everyone is watching it to clip it and have it spread so video is key to the future of
this authenticity vulnerability moment so so that was gonna be my my third point which is that I think uh media strategy used to be let me go on the show that has the widest reach and then you know it'll trickle
it's the opposite now at times where it's can I go on a really Niche show and then that'll get picked up by larger shows and clips like TI even Tik Tok being you know part of the the amplification mechanism if you go on a
you know we we see it with with Zuckerberg where like he's showing up on all these relatively Niche podcasts but that's getting picked up by the New York Times that's getting picked up uh in Clips all over Tik Tok and Instagram so
authentic to an extremely Niche Community that's over the moon that you you're still getting quoted and covered in mainstream just thinking about long form and the impact that it has like the reason that it is so impactful yeah it's
hard to be anything but yourself but if you also do it in high quantities you become familiar like one episode does not make you familiar and it does not earn you someone's trust or even like the likability factor I think about one
of the greatest internet comebacks of all time Logan Paul yeah after the suicide forest he was like the most hated man uh on the internet yeah and what did he do he started a podcast and was just like hey you may not like me
but I'm gonna be here every week for hours for hours and hours and you can judge from the hours that I'm available to you if you like me and then what happened Clips started coming out of Logan Paul saying something about black
lives matter that felt rational and made sense and it gets clipped and it's all or funny clips it's weird that I actually strange that I agree with Logan Paul and over time he just curried favor back again and I think that's Trump's
back again and I think that's Trump's strategy too is just not just the right long form podcast like Joe Rogan but every long form podcast again 16 hours and 53 minutes of available time yeah versus three hours like people didn't
feel like they got to know kamla again she had a shorter window but you know nonetheless even in those days there could have been a higher quantity there like the New Media landscape allowed you as a person to become a brand and that
almost had people fall into the same structures as brands of having like kind of taglines and and you know like Styles and and talking points and um I think you just you don't want that anymore and I think it's key whether you are running
for office or you are a Creator to make sure that people truly get a sense for who you are and the best way to do that is a long form unedited conversation soon these podcasts will be live they'll
be the radio again it'll be twitch every podcast will just be happening live on your guys' thoughts about the podcast election about everything that uh we it played out across YouTube and and New Media and your thoughts on this
conversation and we will see you next week or we'll be back talking about YouTube [Music]