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The Golden Globes are tuning into the podcast boom.
In a bid to recognize a rapidly rising medium amid an even more quickly shifting media landscape, the Globes announced the addition of a best podcast of the year category at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards. The new honor marks the Globes’ first major expansion since introducing the box office and cinematic achievement category in 2023 — and it’s being met with a potent mix of excitement, skepticism and uncertainty from the podcasting world.
“This is what the industry needs — recognition that podcasting is storytelling,” says comedian Bert Kreischer, host of “Bertcast” and “2 Bears, 1 Cave,” which he co-hosts with his friend Tom Segura. “It’s not just noise. It’s a craft.”
Craft, however, is notoriously hard to define in a medium where a 90-minute unscripted conversation can top the charts next to a tightly edited news brief or a crime docuseries. According to preliminary guidelines, six finalists will be selected from the “top 25” list of the most popular podcasts, though exactly how that list is compiled remains unclear.
“We’re dying to know how this will work,” Kreischer admits.
Currently, there isn’t a major ceremony that recognizes podcasts. It’s a huge deal, but it also raises many questions.
As of May 2025, the “top 25” includes a wide spectrum of formats and voices: comedy favorites like The Basement Yard and Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast; journalistic mainstays such as The Daily and Up First; true crime juggernauts like Crime Junkie and Morbid; political lightning rods like The Tucker Carlson Show and The Megyn Kelly Show; culture and commentary hits such as The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy; and celebrity-driven entries including SmartLess and Good Hang with Amy Poehler. That breadth presents a challenge: how do you compare a show where two friends debate the best Pop-Tart flavor with one that dissects the latest political crisis — or, more troublingly, with programs accused of spreading misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric?
“It’s a cool idea, but it raises more questions than anything else,” says Frank Alvarez, co-host of The Basement Yard, one of the top comedy podcasts in the U.S. “Comedy is subjective. News is structured. So, how do you judge them against each other fairly?”
“Exactly,” adds Joe Santagato, Alvarez’s co-host and CEO of Santagato Studios. “We’re just two friends messing around, but for some, it’s how they get through a breakup or a bad week. That’s cultural impact — but it’s not the same as investigative journalism.”
The Globes organization says the category will honor “cultural and creative impact,” a wide net that some fear could tilt too far in favor of celebrity-driven or politically aligned shows. With the podcast ecosystem fractured across Spotify, Apple, YouTube and independent platforms, industry insiders are urging the Globes to clarify how metrics will be weighed — downloads, listener retention, content quality or reach?
“If it’s just about popularity, what’s the point?” Kreischer asked. “Just hand it to Rogan every year. And I think he deserves it. But if you really value substance and message, then it should be voted on. That’s what makes it interesting.”
The ideological minefield is already forming.
With shows from Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Joe Rogan in the mix, some fear that the Globes, long criticized for their Hollywood-centric, left-leaning voting body, may face backlash no matter what direction the nominations take.
“If this whole list ends up being just left-leaning podcasts, this will be the last year they have this award,” Kreischer warns. “You’ve got to be fair about it. If Megyn Kelly is killing it, she deserves to be up there. Same goes for SmartLess, Call Her Daddy or My Favorite Murder. You’d better shake this up. Because podcasts are everywhere, and they go so far.”
That concern is echoed in comedy circles, where creators worry that offbeat, irreverent humor — often politically agnostic — might get overlooked.
“We’re not trying to ruffle feathers,” said Alvarez. “We’re comic relief. But if it ends up being all celebrity podcasts, that confirms the bias.”
For Santagato, the question isn’t just politics — it’s about access. “If some A-list celebrity drops a podcast for eight months and gets nominated over a show that’s been grinding for years? Yeah, that’s frustrating. But it wouldn’t be the first time awards were swayed by star power.”
Despite the questions, most podcasters agree that the recognition is overdue.
“No one respected YouTubers or podcasters five years ago,” Santagato points out. “Now those worlds are blending. And it’s good for everyone.”
Podcasts like Call Her Daddy, hosted by Alex Cooper, regularly outperform TV talk shows in both reach and influence. Yet the medium has been ignored by the world’s most prominent ceremonies, such as the Emmys, Grammys and Oscars. The Golden Globes stepping in could mark a tipping point for institutional acceptance.
“There’s no apples-to-apples comparison between a show with a 90-minute video interview on YouTube and a 20-minute NPR audio digest,” says a publicist who represents various creators. “They’ll need to explain their methodology clearly.”
“This is just another way to get podcasts out to the mainstream,” Kreischer says. “They’re awesome. They’re like great books you listen to in your car. I learned more from three episodes I listened to about Martin Luther yesterday than in the 18+ years I was in school.”
In an era when influence is measured less by Nielsen ratings and more by audience loyalty and digital virality, the new category might offer more than just a trophy. It could be a barometer for what matters in entertainment right now — and who gets to decide.
After all, the Globes are voted on by more than 300 voters worldwide. An international voting body may have more unique taste and tolerance for something deemed more “controversial” than a domestic viewer. Nonetheless, the podcasters are having fun with this idea and are looking forward to the campaign season. If Kreischer had his way, he’d present the best podcast award exactly how podcasting rose to power: lo-fi, off-the-cuff and delightfully unfiltered.
“I’d do it over Zoom,” he shares from his podcast studio in Los Angeles. “Three squares on screen: one for the Globes, one for the audience, and one for me. And I’d open with a fucking ad read. … I’d be like, ‘This category is brought to you by BetterHelp. Look around the room, we’ve all had rough years. Sean Penn, I see you.’ Then I’d do the whole read and go right into the nominees. That’s what podcasting is. It’s scrappy, personal and changed people’s lives.”
The crowd might laugh, the advertisers might cheer and the industry might just have to figure out how to judge the uncategorizable.
Variety’s first projections for the new category are below. More information regarding rules and eligibility will be announced at a later date.
Variety parent company PMC owns Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.
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