As the US presidential election approaches, Republican candidate Trump (Trump) and his Democratic opponent Harris (Kamala Harris) have been appearing on popular podcasts to target specific voter groups in the intense campaign.
Harris chose to speak on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” with host Alex Cooper, which has millions of subscribers. She also appeared on the popular sports and entertainment podcast “All the Smoke” to discuss Bay Area basketball with former basketball stars.
For over half a century, it has been a tradition for presidential candidates to be interviewed on CBS’s flagship news program “60 Minutes” before the election. This program has been considered an important stop for presidential candidates before the election. This year, Trump criticized the program for being biased against him and declined the interview invitation.
However, Trump has been making appearances on a series of podcasts, including the comedy video mix “Bussin’ With The Boys,” comedy podcast “Flagrant,” prankster group “The Nelk Boys,” and American comedian “Theo Von.” Each program has attracted millions of views.
Recently, the Trump camp confirmed that Trump will appear on the largest American podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” this Friday (25th), to be interviewed by host Joe Rogan.
Earlier, it was reported that Harris’ campaign team had met with Rogan’s team, but an interview had not been confirmed yet.
Few media platforms can target specific audiences better than podcasts. Since 2016, podcast listenership has almost doubled.
Andy Bowers, co-founder of Spooler Media, a podcast production company based in India, said that podcast listeners tend to have strong loyalty to their favorite shows, like being part of a club made up of people with similar qualities and interests—and having a candidate invited into this club for a day.
Tom Bettag, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland, said, “You are talking to a specific audience with specific leanings and ways of thinking. This is very helpful for those trying to avoid saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.”
In her appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” program, Harris discussed abortion issues with host Alex Cooper. On “All the Smoke,” the host first asked Harris about how she met her husband.
In the “Flagrant” program, Trump expressed his enjoyment of the interview. Trump’s appearance on podcasts is seen as a move to attract young voters, with nearly 5.5 million people watching the interview on YouTube.
In the past, interviews with mainstream media were the main way for candidates to campaign. The influence of most traditional news organizations is waning, with audiences skewing towards older people. This year, in this brief campaign, some traditional media giants are being marginalized.
For years, candidates have been able to target specific audiences with ad placements—such as swing states or even competitive cities. Now, new media provides more opportunities to disseminate information in a similar manner.
With the rapid development of digital technology, viewership for television networks continues to decline. According to data from market monitoring and data analysis company Nielsen, in the third quarter of 2016 when Trump first ran, CNN had 1.24 million nightly viewers, which dropped to 924,000 this year.
The Pew Research Center reports that the situation for newspapers is even more severe, with Sunday newspaper circulation totaling 37.8 million in 2016, but dropping to 20.9 million in 2022.
Political columnist John Heilemann of the American humor magazine “Puck” noted and described, “An ancient, dying beast is roaring, protesting its weakened status and value in the new world.” Despite the declining influence of traditional media, it still retains a significant level of authority and influence.
Data from the social video analysis company Zelf shows that in the past 60 days, among the top 10 election news sources with the highest viewership on the short video platform TikTok, 6 are traditional news organizations, including ABC News, CNN, NBC News, MSNBC, Univision, and “The Daily Mail.”
Harris was interviewed by NBC News reporter Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, she held a town hall meeting on CNN.
Harris is eager to consolidate support from African American male voters. She appeared on the influential radio program of Charlamagne Tha God, which was even simultaneously broadcast by CNN and MSNBC, and was interviewed by MSNBC’s Al Sharpton.
Harris also appeared on the late-night talk show “Late Show” hosted by Stephen Colbert on CBS to engage with audiences less attuned to news.
This year, Fox News, which has a large conservative audience, has also become a battlefield for the Democratic Party. The Democrats believe that appearing on Fox’s programs signals their willingness to face a hostile environment.
During her interview with Bret Baier on Fox, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Harris, which even became a source of humor material for NBC’s long-running satire comedy show “Saturday Night Live.”
Earlier this month, her running mate Tim Walz appeared on “Fox News Sunday” for an interview with Shannon Bream and was given the opportunity for another interview next week.
(This article referenced reporting by the Associated Press)