Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s podcast has been mocked by a YouTube chief for looking like a “high school” TV show.
However, Pedro Pina, the video platform’s Europe, Middle East and Africa vice-president, said that despite The Rest Is Politics’ low production values, it remained “one of the most successful” UK podcasts.
The former Downing Street spin-doctor and the Tory ex-Cabinet minister launched the show in March 2022 with the aim to “disagree agreeably” when talking about the week in politics.
The weekly main show and follow-up question-and-answer session, along with its separate Leading series of interviews, frequently top the podcast charts.
It is produced by Goalhanger, Gary Lineker’s podcast company – but Mr Pina said: “When you look at their podcast, their live transmission, which was on YouTube [covering] the US election … the production values was one of those – [it] feels like a high school put together a couple of tables, and yet the viewership was tremendous.
“And so guess what? The viewers determine the production values that they’re prepared to accept.”
He told Wednesday’s MIP London industry event at The Savoy hotel that the podcast was “one of the most successful, I think it’s the number one podcast in this country, and we have a great partnership on YouTube”.
The Rest Is Politics has picked up the political podcast of the year award at the Political Podcast Awards and the podcast champion gong at the British Podcast Awards.
However, Mr Stewart – a Remainer who stood against Boris Johnson for the leadership of the Tory party – was branded “clueless” after he predicted a “comfortable” victory for Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. Donald Trump went on to beat her convincingly.
A clip of Mr Stewart’s disappointment after he wrongly predicted the result went viral. He claimed he placed a major bet on the outcome.
Mr Pina went on to say that “the screen with the highest growth for us is connected TV in the living room”, not a computer or a phone where YouTube flourished previously.
