Podcasts: The New Daytime Television

Traditional daytime television is facing a significant structural decline as high production costs and diminishing audiences lead to the cancellation of established talk show formats in favor of low-overhead video podcasts.

The shift is evidenced by the recent cancellations of several talk show staples. The Kelly Clarkson Show, which typically ranked third among daytime talk shows with an average of 1.2 million same-day viewers in syndication, was cancelled after seven seasons. Similarly, Sherri, hosted by Sherri Shepherd, was cancelled after four seasons while averaging 720,000 viewers.

The Economic Shift to Video Podcasts

Media executives and producers indicate that video podcasts provide a product familiar to news and talk show viewers but at a fraction of the cost of traditional television production. This economic disparity is driving a transition toward digital platforms.

Video podcasts are increasingly competing for the same high-profile guests that previously anchored daytime TV. Examples include Michelle Obama appearing on Call Her Daddy and Leonardo DiCaprio appearing on New Heights.

These digital formats leverage a broad reach through YouTube and have expanded their distribution to platforms such as Netflix, further eroding the traditional cable viewership base.

Viewership and Consumption Trends

Data from Nielsen and Edison Research highlight a stark divergence in how audiences consume content. According to a Nielsen report, cable viewership declined 39 percent between the spring of 2021 and 2025, leaving cable with slightly over 24 percent of total viewership.

Conversely, the time spent consuming podcasts has seen explosive growth. Edison Research reports that since 2015, total time spent with podcasts grew 355 percent, reaching 773 million hours per week.

Industry and Labor Implications

The migration of content from television to digital platforms has created concerns for Hollywood unions. These organizations are deeply integrated into the traditional TV talk show system but largely lack a presence on major podcast platforms.

The move toward low-overhead digital shows threatens the traditional employment structures that unions have established within the network television ecosystem.

As streaming services integrate podcast strategies to capture these audiences, the traditional daytime TV model continues to struggle with the combination of waning linear audiences and unsustainable production budgets.