Elon Musk has spent much of 2024 claiming that the internet is the “new media.” While people may have varying opinions on this statement’s validity, there is no doubt that social media — and the influencers that drive it — played a major role throughout the year. Influencers who were once seen merely as a form of entertainment seemingly steered much of the conservation in 2024, particularly regarding the presidential election.
While there was a continued push for spots in mainstream newspapers and cable television, podcasters also snagged interviews with both major candidates, racking up millions of views and listens. Some pundits have claimed that this focus on influencer media is a large reason why Kamala Harris lost and Donald Trump won. This dissemination of the news through podcasts isn’t likely to go away anytime soon, and about one in five Americans “regularly get news from influencers on social media,” according to the Pew Research Center.
Who were 2024’s biggest influencer news sources?
Many of them are podcasters, and two of the biggest names in question are Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper. Rogan, the host of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, is massively influential online, “attracting almost three times the amount of subscribers than his nearest competitor,” said Newsweek.
Despite some controversial views, including comments on vaccines that angered the medical community, Rogan’s “role can’t be minimized,” said Variety, particularly among his conservative-leaning audience. Rogan’s podcast has 14.5 million Spotify listeners, and his episode with Trump netted 53 million views on YouTube.
Cooper, who Rolling Stone described as “Gen-Z’s Barbara Walters,” hosts the widely popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast. She reportedly signed a $125 million deal with SiriusXM, and the success of her show means Cooper has “become the most listened-to female podcaster in the world,” said CNN.
While her show rarely gets political, Cooper hosted Harris for an interview prior to the election, which “was a no-brainer” for the vice president, said Politico. Even though Cooper stated in the interview that she strays away from politics, the “fact that Cooper was willing to rethink that calculus, and open herself up to backlash from her own fans,” was a “win for the Harris campaign.” Cooper’s episode with Harris brought in 938,000 views on YouTube.
How did these influencers become mainstream?
Given the ubiquity of social media, podcasters and influencers are “now a source of news for a significant number of Americans, especially when it comes to politics,” said NPR. In contrast with traditional journalists, influencers make people “feel like they’re speaking to them, right? Like, this is somebody who is just like me, who is sharing information, and who is communicating in a way that really resonates,” Georgetown University researcher Renee DiResta said to NPR.
While “trained journalists do the work of actually producing news content, influencers mostly talk about the content or provide their own (often partisan) analysis,” Kelly Fincham, a communications lecturer at Ireland’s University of Galway, said at The Conversation. People may find this type of information easier to digest compared to traditional journalism.
Conservative podcasts remain the top-rated and most widespread, but American influencer consumption appears to reach across population metrics, especially on Elon Musk’s X. One of the “more surprising findings in the Pew report was that most of the news influencers included in the study have X accounts (85%),” said Wired. Most creators see the “platform as the primary avenue for receiving and sharing news online,” even with other options springing up.
The ability for influencers to disseminate information on the website, however, “doesn’t account for the post-election shift away from X,” said Wired, and doesn’t take other competing platforms into account. And many people are looking at this rise in influencer status as a legitimate career. A “growing number of universities are looking at classes and majors aimed at giving influencers the skills needed to spot misinformation, communicate effectively with audiences and understand business contracts they could enter,” said The Hill.