iHeartMedia Announces Nominees for ‘The iHeartPodcast Awards,’ Returning Live to SXSW on March 10, 2025

Rhea-AI Summary

iHeartMedia, the global leader in podcast publishing, has announced the nominees for The iHeartPodcast Awards, scheduled for March 10, 2025, at ACL Live at The Moody Theater. The event, partnering with SXSW, will honor 2024's most innovative podcast creators across 29 categories.

The ceremony will feature the fan-voted Podcast of the Year award, with nominees including 'Normal Gossip,' 'Three,' and 'Call Her Daddy.' Three Icon Awards will be presented to notable industry contributors: Sarah Spain (Social Impact Award), Dan Taberski (Audible Audio Pioneer Award), and Daniel Alarcón (Innovator Award).

The event will be broadcast on select iHeartMedia radio stations, the iHeartRadio app, and iHeartRadio's YouTube Channel. For the first time, select SXSW badge holders will have access to the ceremony, marking the largest production and venue in the event's history.

Positive

• Expansion to larger venue indicates growing event scale and potential revenue
• Increased distribution through multiple platforms (radio, app, YouTube) expands audience reach
• New SXSW badge holder access creates additional revenue stream
• Maintains position as No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac

Negative

• None.

The event will celebrate the most influential podcasters of 2024 across 29 categories including the coveted fan-voted Podcast of the Year award

Nominees for Podcast of the Year include “Normal Gossip,” “Three,” “Giggly Squad,” “Call Her Daddy,” “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang,” “Hysterical,” “The Telepathy Tapes,” “Who Killed JFK?,” “Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD” and “The Good Whale”

Sarah Spain, Dan Taberski and Daniel Alarcón to be honored with Icon Awards

The event will also broadcast on select iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide, digitally through the iHeartRadio app and video stream on iHeartRadio’s YouTube Channel

NEW YORK & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- iHeartMedia, the No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, today announced the nominees for The iHeartPodcast Awards, in partnership with South by Southwest® (SXSW®). The annual event will take place live on March 10, 2025 at 7 p.m. CT at an expanded venue, ACL Live at The Moody Theater, and will honor 2024’s most innovative and influential voices and creators in podcasting. In addition to the in-person show, the ceremony will also be live-broadcasted on select iHeartMedia Radio Stations, on the iHeartRadio app and on iHeartRadio’s YouTube Channel.

These celebrated nominees represent podcasts and creators across all genres, distributors and platforms with categories including comedy, crime, news, pop culture, sports, food, business and more. Winners in each category will be determined by a panel of blue-ribbon podcast industry leaders, creatives and visionaries. Each year, podcast fans help decide the winner of the coveted Podcast of the Year award by voting online at iHeartPodcastAwards.com. This year’s nominees include “Normal Gossip,” “Three,” “Giggly Squad,” “Call Her Daddy,” “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang,” “Hysterical,” “The Telepathy Tapes,” “Who Killed JFK?,” “Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD” and “The Good Whale.” Fan voting will begin today, January 7 and run through February 16.

The 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards will also present three Icon Awards: Audible Audio Pioneer Award, Social Impact Award and Innovator Award – which will pay tribute to the creators, organizations and podcasts that have made groundbreaking industry contributions. Sarah Spain, Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist and host of “Good Game,” will be honored as the 2025 Social Impact Award for her pivotal role in championing equity in sports coverage, equal pay for female athletes and better investment in women’s sports infrastructure. Dan Taberski will be honored with the 2025 Audible Audio Pioneer Award for his significant influence in the podcasting landscape through his storytelling and investigative journalism, including his latest podcast “Hysterical” (nominated for Podcast of the Year and more) and his previous work with “Missing Richard Simmons” and “Surviving Y2K,” among others. The 2025 Innovator Award will honor Daniel Alarcón, a Peruvian-American journalist and novelist, for his work on “The Good Whale” (nominated for Podcast of the Year), which stands out as an innovative and captivating approach to storytelling within the podcasting realm as it revisits the life of Keiko, the orca who gained fame as the star of the 1990s film “Free Willy.”

“Following our in-person return to SXSW last year, we’re thrilled to be bringing the iHeartPodcast Awards to an even bigger stage in 2025,” said Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia’s Digital Audio Group. “Podcasting is growing in both scale and influence every year, and SXSW brings a level of innovative spirit and excitement that makes it the perfect setting to celebrate the very best of our industry, while also looking towards the future.”

With its largest production and venue yet, the iHeartPodcast Awards are a testament to the rising power of podcasting and its prominence in today’s media. The event will also be open to select SXSW badge holders for the first time ever, granting even more access for attendees to honor those who are shaping the industry.

"We're thrilled to once again partner with iHeartMedia for the return of the Podcast Awards, amplifying its impact within an even larger footprint at SXSW," said Peter Lewis, SXSW Chief Partnerships Officer. "The growth of this event highlights our shared mission to celebrate the transformative impact of podcasting, starting with the creators and distributors who bring these stories to life."

Previous iHeartPodcast Awards shows have featured an array of celebrity presenters and guests including Charlamagne tha God, Will Ferrell, Martha Stewart, Jay Shetty, Molly Sims, Wilmer Valderrama, Zachary Levi, Danielle Robay and Simone Boyce, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Jack O’Brien and Miles Gray, Kyle MacLachlan, Lilly Singh, Paul Scheer and many more. Some of the biggest names in the industry were honored last year, with Podcast of the Year Award going to “New Heights”, “Crime Junkie” receiving the Best Crime Award and “How I Built This” receiving Best Business & Finance. See the full list of 2024 winners, here.

2025 iHeartPodcast Award Nominees Include:

Podcast of the Year:

• Normal Gossip
• Three
• Giggly Squad
• Call Her Daddy
• Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
• Hysterical
• The Telepathy Tapes
• Who Killed JFK?
• Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
• The Good Whale

Best Business & Finance:

• Planet Money
• How to Money
• Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF
• Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
• The Ramsey Show

Best Comedy:

• The Nikki Glaser Podcast
• Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
• Normal Gossip
• The Joe Rogan Experience
• Call Her Daddy

Best Crime:

• Three
• Betrayal
• Up and Vanished
• CounterClock
• Something Was Wrong

Best Pop Culture:

• Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
• The World's First Podcast with Erin & Sara Foster
• Still Processing
• Keep It!
• Pop Culture Happy Hour

Best Food:

• Gastropod
• Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
• Be My Guest with Ina Garten
• The Recipe with Kenji and Deb
• The Sporkful

Best Wellness & Fitness:

• Huberman Lab
• The Mel Robbins Podcast
• 10% Happier with Dan Harris
• A Slight Change of Plans
• We Can Do Hard Things

Best History

• The Rest is History
• Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
• Throughline
• American History Tellers
• You're Wrong About

Best Kids & Family:

• Good Inside with Dr. Becky
• Koala Moon - Kids Bedtime Stories & Meditations
• Smash Boom Best: A funny, smart debate show for kids and family
• Story Pirates
• Wow in the World

Best Music:

• Song Exploder
• Questlove Supreme
• Popcast
• The Wonder of Stevie
• The Joe Budden Podcast

Best News:

• The Journal.
• The Daily
• Up First from NPR
• Pivot
• Today, Explained

Best Fiction:

• Hello From The Magic Tavern
• Welcome to Night Vale
• Impact Winter
• The Magnus Archives
• Midnight Burger

Best Sports:

• New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
• The Herd with Colin Cowherd
• The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
• The Bill Simmons Podcast
• All The Smoke

Best Science:

• Hidden Brain
• StarTalk Radio
• Stuff To Blow Your Mind
• Ologies with Alie Ward
• Science Vs

Best Technology:

• All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
• Hard Fork
• Better Offline
• Darknet Diaries
• Ted Radio Hour

Best Ad Read:

• Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
• Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)
• My Brother, My Brother and Me
• SmartLess
• Office Ladies

Best Overall Host:

• Alex Cooper (Call Her Daddy)
• Jamie Loftus (Sixteenth Minute (of Fame))
• Sabrina Tavernise (The Daily)
• Mel Robbins (The Mel Robbins Podcast)
• Dan Taberski (Hysterical)

Best Overall Ensemble:

• We Can Do Hard Things
• My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
• Handsome
• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
• The Breakfast Club

Best Political:

• Native Land Pod
• The NPR Politics Podcast
• Pod Save America
• The Megyn Kelly Show
• Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Best TV & Film:

• Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein
• Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge
• How Did This Get Made?
• The Rewatchables
• Blank Check with Griffin & David

Best Spanish Language:

• Radio Ambulante
• Duolingo Spanish Podcast
• Leyenda Legendarias
• Mija Podcast
• Escuela Secreta

Best Advice/Inspirational:

• Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• On Purpose with Jay Shetty
• The Mel Robbins Podcast
• Life Kit
• Savage Lovecast

Best Beauty & Fashion:

• Naked Beauty
• The goop Podcast
• Glowing Up
• Breaking Beauty Podcast
• Lipstick on the Rim

Best Travel:

• Travel with Rick Steves
• The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• Zero To Travel Podcast
• Women Who Travel
• JUMP with Traveling Jackie

Best Green:

• Unf*cking the Future
• Environmental Insights: Conversations on policy and practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program
• Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
• Threshold
• TED Climate

Best Spirituality & Religion:

• Elevation with Steven Furtick
• Oprah's Super Soul
• WHOA That's Good Podcast
• Bible in a Year with Jack Graham
• Transformation Church

Best Branded Podcast:

• Nerdwallet's Smart Money Podcast
• Into the Mix (Ben and Jerry's)
• Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast (Nova Nordisk)
• You Can't Make This Up (Netflix)
• Mind The Business: Small Business Success Stories (Intuit Quickbooks)

Best Emerging:

• Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce
• So True with Caleb Hearon
• Hysterical
• Wild Card with Rachel Martin
• Shell Game

Best International:

• The Business of Doing Business with Dwayne Kerrigan - Canada
• Mamamia Out Loud - Australia
• Between Two Beers Podcast - New Zealand
• The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett - United Kingdom
• Las Alucines - Mexico

The 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards is part of iHeartMedia’s roster of nationally recognized events including the iHeartRadio Music Awards, the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the nationwide iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Concert Tour, iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina, iHeartCountry Festival and iHeartRadio ALTer Ego.

Executive producers for the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards are John Sykes, Tom Poleman, Conal Byrne and Bart Peters for iHeartMedia. More information including guest hosts, celebrity appearances and more will be announced in the coming months.

Audible is a proud sponsor of the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards. For more information about the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards, visit here.

About SXSW

SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of tech, film and television, music, education, and culture. An essential destination for global professionals, the annual March event features sessions, music, and comedy showcases, film and television screenings, exhibitions, professional development, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2025 will take place March 7–15 in Austin. Learn more at sxsw.com. To register for the event, please visit sxsw.com/attend.

About iHeartMedia

iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company in America, with 90% of Americans listening to iHeart broadcast radio in every month. iHeart’s broadcast radio assets alone have a larger audience in the U.S. than any other media outlet; twice the size of the next largest broadcast radio company; and over four times the ad-enabled audience of the largest digital only audio service. iHeart is the largest podcast publisher according to Podtrac, with more downloads than the next two podcast publishers combined, has the most recognizable live events across all genres of music, has the number one social footprint among audio players, with seven times more followers than the next audio media brand, and is the only fully integrated audio ad tech solution across broadcast, streaming and podcasts. The company continues to leverage its strong audience connection and unparalleled consumer reach to build new platforms, products and services. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250107196219/en/

Media

Angel Aristone

AngelAristone@iheartmedia.com

Jenn Powers

JennPowers@iheartmedia.com

Source: iHeartMedia, Inc.

FAQ

When and where will the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards (IHRT) take place?

The 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards will take place on March 10, 2025, at 7 p.m. CT at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, Texas.

How can listeners vote for the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards Podcast of the Year?

Fans can vote for Podcast of the Year at iHeartPodcastAwards.com from January 7 through February 16, 2025.

What are the distribution channels for the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards?

The ceremony will be broadcast live on select iHeartMedia radio stations, the iHeartRadio app, and iHeartRadio's YouTube Channel.

Who are the Icon Award recipients for the 2025 iHeartPodcast Awards?

Sarah Spain will receive the Social Impact Award, Dan Taberski the Audible Audio Pioneer Award, and Daniel Alarcón the Innovator Award.