Love him or hate him, footballer-turned-broadcaster Gary Lineker is impossible to ignore.
With 8.9 million followers on Twitter (I still refuse to call it ‘X’) and another 1.2 million on Instagram, the 63-year-old was famously never even booked during a glittering playing career.
Now the bête noire of the Daily Mail for his regular outspoken remarks on issues like asylum, can make a case for being the most powerful voice in the UK’s podcast industry.
Lineker only co-founded Goalhanger Podcasts in 2022 with Tony Pastor and Jack Davenport but it’s already responsible for some of the UK’s most popular podcasts.
The company has just reported record audience figures for the May-July period, especially for its hit shows The Rest is Football and The Rest is Politics.
During the Euros, The Rest Is Football podcast, which Lineker hosts alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, enjoyed 19.6 million downloads and full episode YouTube views.
The Rest Is Politics and Leading podcasts, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, went even better, achieving over 21.6 million total downloads and full episode YouTube views across the General Election campaign period.
Lineker is no stranger to politics and in 2023 was criticised by the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman for speaking out about then Conservative government’s asylum policy.
The popular broadcaster was briefly taken off air by the BBC – which led to pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright boycotting Match of the Day in solidarity.
If his critics thought the row would silence Lineker they were wrong and, if anything, his status as a national treasure was cemented by the row.
For the purpose of full disclosure, I’m a big fan of both The Rest Is Football and The Rest is Politics podcasts and, for me, its success is down to the chemistry between the presenters, the quality of insight offered and the humour.
While it would be wrong to say ‘It was The Rest is Politics that won it’ for Labour in July’s general election, its influence can’t be underestimated and was underlined by the fact Campbell and Stewart ended up co-hosting Channel 4’s all-night election coverage.
Tony Pastor, co-founder at Goalhanger, said the success of the shows squashes the myth that the so-called TikTok generation only want short-form content.
“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,” he said.
The Rest Is Politics podcast, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart
“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.”
Campbell, who shot to prominence as Tony Blair’s director of communications, said: “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.”
Further shows across Goalhanger include The Rest Is History, the world’s most popular history podcast hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, and The Rest Is Entertainment hosted by author and TV host Richard Osman and journalist Marina Hyde.
Guy Kilty is the founder of specialist podcast consultancy Dap Dip, which is behind the hit podcast The Price of Football.
He said: “Goalhanger has grown rapidly over the last few years into the dominant player in the UK podcast market thanks to its consistency, talent selection and use of audio and video to grow each of its brands.
“Jack Davenport, Tony Pastor and Gary Lineker have done an amazing job putting each show together and their success reiterates how bringing together the right people, who are both well-informed and entertaining on a particular subject, and publishing high-quality content on a consistent basis, is so important in the podcast market.”
At the time of writing this (August 6) Goalhanger has no fewer than five podcasts in Chartable’s top 10 of most popular podcasts in Great Britain with The Rest is Politics: US, starring Katty Kay and former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci, in fifth place.
After successful careers as a footballer and broadcaster, Lineker has completed a perfect hat-trick as arguably the most powerful voice in UK podcasts.