Podcasts at the Golden Globes

In a plot twist no one saw coming (but everyone will pretend they did), the Golden Globe Awards have officially added Podcasts as a recognized category. Yes, those podcasts. The ones you listen to while folding laundry, driving to work, or spiraling at 2 a.m. The same medium that gave us true-crime obsessions, parasocial relationships with hosts, and the phrase “I heard this on a podcast” is now rubbing elbows with prestige television and film.

Grab your headphones. This is kind of a big deal.

Let’s be clear: podcasts have been culturally dominant for years. They’ve launched book deals, TV adaptations, celebrity rebrands, and entire media empires. What they haven’t had, until now, is institutional validation from legacy award bodies.

The Golden Globes adding a podcast category signals something important:

Audio storytelling is no longer considered “alternative” media. It’s just media.

This move officially puts podcast creators in the same conversation as filmmakers, showrunners, and screenwriters, and that shift matters more than a trophy ever could.

If you’re a creator, here’s why your group chat should be losing it right now:

For years, podcasts lived in a weird space, immensely popular but rarely “serious” in the eyes of traditional institutions. A Golden Globe category changes that narrative overnight. It legitimizes podcasts as high-art storytelling, not just niche content.

Translation?

More respect. More funding. More doors are opening.

Recognition attracts advertisers, investors, and studios, but let’s be real, the money has been circling podcasting for a while now. Remember when Spotify bought Gimlet Media, or when Joe Rogan’s show was acquired for an eye-watering sum, and everyone collectively said, “Wait… for a podcast?” At the time, it felt wild, maybe even reckless. Turns out, they might’ve just been ahead of the curve.

What the Golden Globes are doing now is validating those early bets. Podcasts aren’t just passion projects or marketing tools anymore; they’re award-eligible intellectual property with proven audiences and cultural impact.

Expect:

• Bigger budgets
• More network-backed productions
• Increased competition (sorry—but also congrats)

Studios already love podcasts because they’re essentially pre-tested story engines, built-in audiences, serialized narratives, and proof that people are willing to show up week after week. We’ve seen this play out before: Serial helped pave the way for HBO’s The Case Against Adnan Syed, and suddenly podcast-to-screen adaptations stopped feeling experimental and started feeling inevitable.

Now, with award recognition in the mix, podcasts become even more valuable as IP farms. They’re no longer just low-risk development material; they’re prestige-adjacent properties with cultural credibility.

That investigative series you made in your bedroom?

Congratulations, it’s no longer just a podcast. It’s “cinematic potential.”

This move reinforces something creators have known for a while: you don’t need Hollywood to start telling powerful stories. You can build an audience first, and the industry will catch up later.

The Golden Globes didn’t create podcast legitimacy.

They just finally acknowledged it.

Probably. But not overnight, and not completely.

Podcasting isn’t suddenly going to lose its indie roots. There will always be independent creators making scrappy, intimate, low-budget shows, because accessibility is baked into the medium. What will change is the range. Alongside bedroom recordings and passion projects, we’re going to see more big-budget, studio-backed productions, and for certain genres, that’s actually a huge win.

Take audio drama podcasts, for example. Gimlet’s Homecoming, with a cast that included David Schwimmer, benefited enormously from its budget, allowing for cinematic sound design, high-profile performances, and ambitious storytelling. The same goes for long-form investigative podcasts like Bone Valley, where creators spend a year or more immersed in research, interviews, and documentation, work that’s nearly impossible without financial backing.

The challenge moving forward will be balance: preserving the intimacy and creative freedom that made podcasting special in the first place, while embracing the resources that allow some stories to be told more deeply, more carefully, and at a higher level of craft.

Still, one thing is clear:

Audio creators are no longer on the sidelines. They’re on the red carpet.

The addition of podcasts to the Golden Globes isn’t just a category expansion; it’s a cultural shift. It signals that storytelling is no longer bound by screens, studios, or traditional formats. If you can captivate an audience with a voice and a story, you belong in the conversation.

And honestly? It’s about time.

Now, excuse us while we practice our acceptance speeches, just in case.

Ashley is a busy wife and mother who can often be found listening to an audiobook while driving the mom taxi in a desperate attempt to cling to her sanity through the joy of escapism. Her love of reading inspired her to return to school, and she is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in creative writing at Southern New Hampshire University. Being a mother does not mean you have to give up your dreams; her story is still being written.