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It was聽聽in the podcasting world when US Vice-President Kamala Harris recently sat down with Alex Cooper鈥檚 Call Her Daddy for an extended interview. This was not just because it was one of the few times Harris has opened herself up to direct media scrutiny, but also because it signalled podcasting鈥檚 coming of age.

Now there are fresh reports she聽聽for his top-rated show. Former president Donald Trump has聽聽before election day.

High-stakes interviews are no longer solely the domain of legacy media. Politicians, like celebrities with a story to tell or a film to sell, can pop onto a podcast with a hopefully sympathetic host to reach vast and potentially new audiences. (That said, Harris also did interviews with CBS 高清福利片, 60 Minutes, The View and CBS鈥檚 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the same week.)

So for the VP and Democratic presidential candidate, is this about finding new audiences or answering to a different, perhaps softer style of interview?

If you haven鈥檛 heard of Call Her Daddy, note the show鈥檚 emphasis is on sex and female empowerment. Cooper鈥檚 listeners are 70 percent women and 76 percent of them are aged under 35. It is often compared to the Joe Rogan Experience, a comparison Cooper聽. Cooper has also been聽聽the Oprah Winfrey of her generation, which may say something about her interviewing skills or her market value.

The comparisons to Rogan are hard to avoid. Call Her Daddy has been running since 2018. In 2020, Cooper split with her co-host and took the program to Spotify, also home to the Joe Rogan Experience. There, Call Her Daddy rose to be the second most-listened-to podcast globally, behind Rogan, with an average of 5 million weekly listeners. Spotify gave Cooper聽聽to 搁辞驳补苍鈥檚听聽$250 million. This particular gender pay gap was recently reduced when Cooper聽聽for $125 million.

A Harris appearance on Rogan鈥檚 podcast could give her a larger audience than Cooper鈥檚 and parallel access to young male listeners.

Harris鈥� decision to be interviewed on a podcast aimed at young women brought criticism from those who saw it as the 鈥渟oft option鈥�, as well as those who聽.

The same commentators seem to have overlooked that for the last year, Trump has been wooing the 鈥渕anosphere鈥� and has called in to friendly bro-casts such as聽. In聽聽like Full Send, Trump has had scope for friendly freewheeling banter on topics from Ice Spice to golf.

Cooper says she also invited the former president onto her show聽.

In the journalistic tradition of podcasts聽, Cooper revealed her process and opened her interview with Harris by sharing the reasoning behind her line of questioning. 鈥淟et鈥檚 be real, I鈥檓 probably not the one to be having the fracking conversation,鈥� she deadpanned.

Harris said she went on the podcast 鈥渢o be real, you know, and to talk about the things that people really care about鈥�. There were moments of genuine emotion, such as anger and compassion at the death of a young woman,聽, in Georgia in the wake of the US鈥檚 newly restrictive abortion laws. Yet at times Harris still sounded rehearsed, in the manner of people in the public eye required to repeatedly answer similar questions and give similar speeches.

The risk to a politician is that the authenticity and intimacy for which podcasting is known could just as well work against them 鈥� a lack of 鈥渞ealness鈥� becomes amplified through headphones, straight into the listeners鈥� ears.

While Harris鈥� cadence sounded like familiar speechifying near the end, perhaps her anecdotes were new to sections of Cooper鈥檚 audience. For all the claims that a focus on the concerns of women made for a 鈥渟oft interview鈥�, it was also a timely reminder of the centrality of reproductive freedom to women鈥檚 lives and the election.

The risks of the interview were more Cooper鈥檚, who hinted at the prospect of losing listeners by interviewing a politician while wanting Call Her Daddy to be 鈥渁 place where everyone feels comfortable tuning in鈥�. This is a pertinent concern for her as much of the program鈥檚 initial popularity was built on Barstool, a media company known for its conservative leanings.

The question remains: is appearing on extremely popular podcasts with young audiences a good political strategy for Harris? The positives of appearing on Call Her Daddy were clear, given Cooper鈥檚 main audience of young women is generally more politically engaged and motivated to vote than young men.

搁辞驳补苍鈥檚听聽is 81 percent male with 34 percent aged 18鈥�35. Making a connection with young men could prove trickier for Harris within the 鈥渂ro-ey鈥�, jokey framework of the Joe Rogan Experience than it was with Cooper.

A lot will depend on Harris鈥� interaction with the host, but Rogan is not known for hostile interviewing and Harris is experienced in connecting with people from a range of backgrounds. And her recent spot on shock jock聽聽gave her a chance to share her love of car racing.

In a tight election, which could come down to swing voters in six or seven states, such skills, showcased in the podcasting space, could impact the election. The potential gains seem worth any risks.

Lea Redfern is a lecturer with the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney, specialising in audio and podcasting. This story was first published on . Hero photo:聽Democratic presidential candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 25 September 2024. David Muse/EPA/AAP.