1.8 million tunes as the rest of the emergency Iranian plot is a record of political interruptions within 24 hours
The rest of the people who were played, viewed or downloaded were politics, and the rest was politics: within 24 hours we responded to the U.S. bombing on Iran over the weekend after both shows was released.
To show how the central podcast changed during the global outbreak of news events, over 1.1 million views were recorded on YouTube alone, with 685,000 audio streams on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcast. The peak live audience exceeded 50,000, many of them adjusted with smart TVs – further blurring the line between podcasts and traditional broadcasts.
The British version, hosted by Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, launched an immediate response and analysis of the U.S.-Iran war, asking whether the strike would spark wider regional or global conflict. Meanwhile, the American version led by Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci mines Donald Trump’s motivations, the impact on his foundations and what this latest intervention means for U.S. foreign policy.
Tony Pastor, co-founder of Gothanger, who is co-founder of the podcast production company behind the two shows, said the response highlights how viewers seek out podcast clarity and commentary from podcasts during geopolitical tensions.
“Again, we see this is a time of rapid news disruption, with viewers turning to podcasts for explanation and analysis,” the pastor said. “It’s especially surprising how many people choose to watch these episodes on TV. The line between podcasts and TV shows is blurry – and it’s happening faster than ever.”
The success of this episode comes after the latest discovery from Reuters’ digital news coverage in 2025, and the rest is that Politics is the most popular news podcast in the UK and named it “Goarehanger” in the country’s highest-ranked news podcast producer – ahead of the BBC’s voice and globally. Podcasts are now also the most popular news show in the UK.
The pastor added: “These numbers not only show the trust the audience places in our hosts, but also the agility of the format. We are able to respond to major global events in real time and attract audiences at the scale of prime time broadcasts.”
Emergency episodes are now available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast and other major platforms.
Paul Jones
Harvard alumnus and former New York Times reporter. Commercial Affairs has been editing for over 15 years, and it is UKS’s largest business magazine. I am also the head of the automotive department of Capital Business Media, working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.
