Goalhanger Celebrates Record-Breaking Podcast Success

Today Goalhanger, the UK’s largest independent podcast company, announced a record level of downloads and views over a hugely busy May to July period, led by a worldwide boost in interest across shows such as “The Rest Is Politics” and "The Rest Is Football”.

• The Rest Is Politics and Leading have together achieved over 21.6 million total downloads and full episode YouTube views across the General Election campaign period

• During the Euros, The Rest Is Football garnered a combined total of 19.6 million downloads and full episode YouTube views

From May 22nd to July 5th, “The Rest Is Politics’ and its companion show, “Leading”, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, achieved an impressive milestone: 21.6 million combined downloads and full episode YouTube views. Additionally, Channel 4 broadcast the show across part of their General Election coverage, concluding with Alastair and Rory joining the channel for its election night analysis to a peak of a further 1 million viewers*.

“The Rest Is Football”, featuring Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, witnessed a substantial surge in popularity during the Euros competition from June 14th to July 16th with the total downloads and full episode YouTube views surpassing 19.6 million, a testament to its ever growing fan base.

Similarly, shows across the Goalhanger stable saw tremendous growth success on social media, with “The Rest Is Football” accumulating over 66 million views across all platforms during the Euros period and “The Rest Is Politics” seeing over 22 million views across all platforms during the UK election period.

Further shows across Goalhanger include The Rest Is History, the world’s most popular history podcast hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, which recently released acclaimed series on 'The Road to the Great War’ and 'The French Revolution’ and announced a second book with Bloomsbury**. Meanwhile, The Rest Is Entertainment, hosted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde, has consistently dominated the UK podcast charts, with most of Goalhanger’s titles rarely leaving the top 15 this year.

Jack Davenport, Co-Founder at Goalhanger said: “These numbers show that 2024 is the year Goalhanger evolved from an audio production company to a mass media publisher, speaking to tens of millions of people worldwide. We want to reach audiences wherever they consume content—whether they prefer podcasting, watching on YouTube, social media, linear TV, or even in print—you can find us there.”

Tony Pastor, Co-Founder at Goalhanger added: “The success of our shows proves that the so-called TikTok generation only wanting short-form content is a myth. Half of our audience is under 33 years old and enjoying long-form conversations between intelligent people, discussing everything from history to politics to sports and entertainment. In the build-up to the election, The Rest Is Politics went daily and attracted audiences north of 700,000 audio downloads an episode as people loved the insight of Rory and Alastair. We were able to be nimble, jumping onto YouTube and reacting quickly to breaking news, which proved massively popular with audiences. Similarly, on The Rest Is Football, Gary, Alan, and Micah were able to react to the games as fans and analysts, which viewers and listeners found hugely relatable.”

Gary Lineker, Co-Host of The Rest Is Football and Co-Founder at Goalhanger said: “Hosting The Rest Is Football during the Euros with Alan and Micah has been a blast. The fans’ response has been amazing, and it was fun sharing laughs, stories, and insights about the event’s highs and lows. Everyone has an opinion during a major tournament, but our listeners and viewers have shown they appreciate insightful discussion with a good bit of banter thrown in. Here’s to many more episodes as we approach the new Premier League season.”

Alastair Campbell, Co-Host of The Rest Is Politics said: “It fills me with hope that so many people tuned into our show across the General Election. Rory and I aim to fly the flag for balanced debate and real clarity amidst the constant noise of 24-hour rolling news, and we’re delighted to see our audience respond in such positive ways. While exhausting, ending the campaign as official co-hosts of Channel 4's all-night election coverage, which concluded with a landslide victory for Labour, felt like a real milestone during a busy period for The Rest Is Politics.”