Crooked Media acquires FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast

Crooked Media, the progressive podcast network founded by former Obama administration staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, acquired the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast — rebranded as 'Still Counting' — from ABC News/Disney in August 2026. FiveThirtyEight, originally founded by statistician Nate Silver, had been a flagship data journalism and political analysis brand under ESPN and later ABC News before Disney wound down the broader FiveThirtyEight editorial operation. The podcast acquisition represents Crooked Media expanding its political audio content portfolio with a data-driven, polling-focused show that complements its existing lineup including Pod Save America. This deal reflects the continued fragmentation of legacy media assets and the growing appetite among independent podcast networks to absorb recognizable intellectual property from larger media conglomerates looking to shed non-core content. The acquisition is significant because it brings together two distinct but complementary political media brands — Crooked Media's narrative, personality-driven commentary and FiveThirtyEight's quantitative, polling-centric analysis tradition. The 'Still Counting' podcast likely retains some association with the FiveThirtyEight methodology and brand equity even as it moves under Crooked Media's operational and monetization infrastructure. For Crooked Media, which has built a substantial direct advertising and listener-supported revenue model, adding a data journalism-flavored show diversifies its content offering and potentially attracts a different advertiser demographic interested in analytically-minded, politically engaged audiences. From an AdTech and media industry perspective, this deal underscores the ongoing consolidation within the independent podcast ecosystem, where mid-tier and premium shows are being aggregated under branded networks to achieve scale for advertising sales. Crooked Media has historically sold advertising directly and through podcast ad networks, and adding a recognizable political data brand strengthens its pitch to political advertisers, advocacy organizations, and consumer brands targeting civically engaged listeners — particularly valuable heading into election cycles.

This acquisition has meaningful implications for the podcast advertising market, particularly within the political and news audio segment. Crooked Media gains increased inventory and audience scale, which strengthens its negotiating position with direct advertisers and dynamic ad insertion platforms. The political podcast advertising market is highly cyclical and election-sensitive, and owning a data/polling-focused show alongside opinion-driven content gives Crooked Media a more complete content suite to offer advertisers seeking brand-safe, politically adjacent environments. The deal also reflects a broader trend of legacy media companies divesting podcast and digital editorial assets that lack clear monetization paths within large corporate structures, while independent networks with leaner cost bases can extract value from those same assets. Competitive pressure on Spotify, iHeartMedia, and Amazon Music's podcast divisions continues as independent networks like Crooked Media, Wondery (pre-Amazon), and Pushkin Industries demonstrate that niche-but-loyal audiences can be monetized effectively without platform exclusivity. For the identity and audience targeting segment of AdTech, politically engaged podcast listeners represent a high-value, difficult-to-reach cohort, and Crooked Media's first-party audience data becomes more valuable with expanded content. This acquisition may also prompt similar moves by other independent political media networks seeking to consolidate recognizable but orphaned media brands.