The Golden Globes just announced a best podcast category for its 2026 awards and this is either A) a sign of Hollywood’s waning cultural influence, B) a sign of podcasting’s rising popularity, C) a bit of both, or D) no big deal as this is still, you know, only the Golden Globes we’re talking about (kidding — we respect and adore the Globes and all other PMC-owned events!).
In truth, adding a podcast category to the Globes is a savvy way to boost viewer interest and expand promotion of the telecast to a thriving medium. It follows ratings resurgence for the awards show in January, as well as acclaim for first-time host Nikki Glaser, who will return next year.
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The new category, however, does raise some questions.
Podcasts are, by their nature, different animals than movies and TV shows, ranging in scope from a lone individual in a garage to powerful media enterprises. Their audiences are also rather tribal and many of the most popular shows are staunchly political. Will the Globes avoid politics and stick to nominating journalistic programs like Radiolab? If the nominations enter the political space, will only left-leaning podcasts like Pod Save America get nominated? Or will right-wing successes like The Ben Shapiro Show have a shot? Will it delve into the guilty pleasure arena of true crime podcasts like Crime Junkies? What about Joe Rogan and his popular squad of bro-median podcasters, will any of those break into the ranks?
One can easily imagine the category becoming frustratingly overrun by celebrity-driven titles like SmartLess, Good Hang with Amy Poehler and Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, as their hosts, presumably, have a bit of an inside track. All are great shows, but famous people talking to their famous friends who are typically promoting their latest project feels like the simplest path to podcast success and are basically long-form late-night talk shows. (Speaking of which: It’s wild the Globes doesn’t have a late-night category and apparently never has; this 81-year-old awards institution skipped over the rise and fall of late-night entirely and went straight to podcasts for its first-ever quasi-interview show category, which is a bit like going from listening to a gramophone to downloading Spotify).
Movies and TV shows are also made by major companies who hire seasoned professionals to act in a (hopefully) professional manner. Part of the charm of podcasts is that many are not that. As Rogan has endlessly — yet rightly — pointed out, podcasting was a rebellion against media convention. So will the Globes actually let the riffraff in?
Similarly, podcasts with major media backers would seem to have another advantage as they have experience lobbying for awards. Will hosts who are not well known beyond the podcasting world who self-produce their content have an equal shot? Doesn’t a podcast made HBO and The Ringer like The Bill Simmons Podcast have a far better chance of recognition than a lone-host-with-a-mic effort such as Huberman Lab? Is Ezra Klein really going to be up for the same award as Hawk Tuah? (And if they’re not nominated, can they please present this category together?).
And this is all against the backdrop of the often-a-bit-weird voting body for the awards (a group formerly known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), which has received a much-needed makeover in recent years and now has grown to around 300 members. That’s three times as many members as in not-so-distant years past when only 100 or so people were deciding to give The Tourist Best Picture and to honor James Corden as Best Actor for The Prom. But does anybody want to venture a guess as to what podcasts those 300 listen to during their commutes? … Do they even have commutes?
Because, finally, consider this: Much has been made of Peak TV hitting around 500 scripted shows per year, which award shows then have to winnow down for its nominations. But there are around 3 million active podcasts, the Globes only picking among the top 25 most popular. How does this category not turn into an absolute mess of eye roll nominations and outrageous snubs? Which we are definitely here for.
The Golden Globes brand is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, which is a division of a company, PMC, that also owns The Hollywood Reporter
