Hollywood Embraced Podcasting Onscreen In 2021

As podcasts have become more and more ubiquitous in our culture it’s only natural that use of and mention of them should seep into other medias and Thrillist this week reported on how television and film have embraced the podcast as a plot point over the last year.

Thrillist is an online media site covering food, drink, travel and entertainment and the article cited several specific instances of podcasts not only being mentioned by major programming, but being a focal point.

They begin by talking about how Sarah Jessica Parkers famous character Carrie Bradshaw now hosts a podcast in the new Sex and the City reboot on HBO Max And Just Like That called XY and Me.

They also use the popular Serial podcast of 2014 as an explainer of the rise of podcasts as a medium and how many podcasts like Homecoming have been adapted into television shows. From there they make a connection of how in fact the rise of true crime into all formats has led directly to podcasting being talked about so prominently in the Hulu comedy Only Murders in the Building in which a group of friends (Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez) want to turn a real crime into a true-crime podcast.

Another recent show to make use of podcasting is Dexter: New Blood which of course latches onto the true crime podcasting genre by having one of the shows character’s try to solve the mysterious murders left behind by Dexter in his last television series. They even created a real 10-minute version of shows in-series called Merry F*cking Kill.

As podcasts continue to grow in popularity and with an estimated 2 billion in ad spending in 2023 according to tracking site IAB the synergy will in all likelihood continue to grow and podcasting as an occupation for characters in films and television shows will increase as well as to continue being a major plot point for big Hollywood properties.