Bezos' WaPo leap into podcasting greeted by 'astonishingly small audience': report

The Washington Post, already buffeted by a massive exodus of subscribers dating back to when Jeff Bezos pulled the plug on a 2024 endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to be president, attempted to stop the bleeding with a YouTube podcast that has failed miserably, according to media watchdog Status.

On Sunday night, Natalie Korach of Status reported that the struggling Post, which has undergone massive turnover due to departures by top reporters and columnists, followed by substantial layoffs, went to the expense of creating a podcast studio for members of the remaining editorial board to broadcast their takes on the topics of the day.

As Status is reporting: no one is watching — and that has staffers grumbling.

According to the report, the Post spent approximately $80,000 on video equipment to create a YouTube podcast called "Make It Make Sense" hosted by fledgling opinion editor Adam O'Neal and members of the editorial board. The studio features fresh couches, extensive new video equipment, a bar setup, and wood-paneled backdrops reminiscent of Joe Rogan's podcasting set.

So far, the investment has produced "an astonishingly small audience" with only 190 YouTube subscribers as of Monday morning after 179 videos, with many videos attracting only a few dozen views, Korach is reporting.

The studio renovation reflects a broader effort by Opinion Editor Adam O'Neal and Bezos to remake the Post's opinion section into a "personality-driven and video-focused operation" centered on commentary about "personal liberties and free markets." The Americana-coded aesthetic — complete with cowboy imagery and wood paneling — has sparked internal concerns about the section's rightward ideological shift according to Status.

"It's what the owner wants, I guess," one current staffer lamented when questioned about why the opinion section needed such an elaborate setup by Status. The Post's official line is that the set was built in a cost-effective manner, with the opinion budget cut by more than half. However, former employees are questioning the logic of the investment given the skeletal staffing.

"It does feel like this is just for an audience of one," one former staffer told Status, alluding to Bezos. "That audience of one is happy to put down money for a studio and programming that doesn't serve any of the existing audience."

The former employee suggested that while O'Neal has discussed making the paper's editorials more ideologically diverse, the content being produced "isn't something people on the right want either."

Another former staffer called the investments "haphazard," telling Status, "No one is even there anymore to make sure things run properly."