Digital media is dominating the world, and podcasts have emerged as one of its elements.
True crime as a topic has taken the United States by storm, making up 24 percent of top-ranked podcasts, according to a Pew Research Center study of 451 of the top-ranked podcasts. In a 2022 Center study mentioned by PEW, it is shown that 34 percent of U.S. adults who have listened to a podcast in the past year say they regularly listen to podcasts about true crime. In these percentages, women are twice as likely as men to listen to the true crime genre.
True crime podcasts often feature someone who follows investigations into murders, scandals, and other criminal events and informs the public of this information. They can be found on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many more platforms. Some of the most common crimes a chosen topic are the reasons why true entertainment and just needing something to listen to while doing a task.
One of the first true crime podcasts that started the genre’s rise to the top is called Serial. Serial is a podcast created and hosted by American Journalist Sarah Koenig. Unlike other podcasts where each episode is a different case, Serial covers one case for a season.
Serial’s season one debut 2014 consisted of reinvestigating a 1999 murder case in Baltimore. The case revolved around a young man named Adnan Syed, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing his former girlfriend, a fellow high school senior named Hae Min Lee.
The podcast has reached an estimated over 300 million downloads and has won every major broadcasting award, including the duPont-Columbia, Scripps Howard, Edward R. Murrow, and the first-ever Peabody award.
Before understanding why women gravitate towards the true crime genre, it is important to understand why true crime podcasts like Serial for instance become so successful among the media and its listeners.
Podcast expert, author, educator, founder and CEO of Sweet G. Communications and Parke Podcast Academy, and former Chief Podcast Content Strategist Jacqueline Parke spoke about the ins and outs of podcasting.
Parke insists that research is key. “That’s the problem nowadays. People are not creative enough. They don’t do their homework. I tell my students to research, research, research. Research is everything.”
Anyone starting a podcast must know why they are starting the podcast, who their audience is, and, in terms of marketing, where their audience is hanging out on social media.
“It’s all strategy. Many of these people put out podcasts without formal training and I do feel formal training is important,” Parke said.
With that being said, Parke gave some insight into why listeners may gravitate towards the true crime genre more than others from her perspective on knowledge being translated into power.
“Learning about crimes makes people feel more aware and in control. Plus, there’s the mix of suspense, psychology, and justice that hooks people in. Also, let’s be real – discussing crazy categories is addictive,” said Parke.
These podcasts have the curiosity, suspense, and fear that caters to the darker side of human nature and pulls listeners in with real-life stakes, making listeners think, ‘Yeah, this may happen and could happen.’
With such high stakes come the precautions that are necessary for these storytellers to take. These are stories about real people and was their entire life. Mindfulness is everything. Speakers must be mindful of the victim and suspect’ their families, confidentiality, and sensitive information within these cases.
Strategy, research, and storytelling tactics aren’t the only reasons true crime podcasts have become popular among U.S. listeners. Psychological factors come to play a part in this just as much.
Jawhan Davis, a mental health counselor for three years, shared his insights on the matter.
“The way I’ve come to look at it with people is very much like ‘What could I do kind of situation? How could I solve this kind of thing?'” For instance, when Wade Wilson was convicted for the murder of two women, many women who followed the case were infatuated with him and had the ‘I can fix him’ nurture mentality for the wrong people.
Another factor that comes into play is whether or not the woman finds the convict or suspect attractive or not.
“This person’s attractive so it mitigates damage. It plays so much of a level people don’t want to admit it.” Davis said.
A lot of times, when these convicts or suspects are deemed attractive, women tend to go into phases of denial where they think they are too attractive to have carried out this crime, they come up with more excuses for them, or it was accidental.
True crime podcasts also fuel confirmation bias and delusion. If a woman is in a bad situation, she could seek out a case similar to hers and find validation in this case. But it can also lead to a falsified version in her head of how her situation may or may not turn out or how, if she does something different, it can change the outcome. That is where the two come into play together.
Before podcasts became what they are now, there was online radio and downloadable audio shows in the 1980s. Fast-forward to 2003, when software developer Dave Winer and MTV video jockey Adam Curry created the first program that allowed users to download internet radio broadcasts to their iPods.
Shortly after, the former New York Times journalist Christopher Lydon launched Radio Open Source, which is considered the first podcast and still the longest-running one in the world.
Podcasts took form when Apple introduced podcast subscriptions, allowing users to find, subscribe to, and download podcasts, making them mainstream in 2005.
According to Infinum, 504.9 million listeners, or 23.5 percent of all internet users have around 4.2 million registered podcasts to listen to.
The genre’s rise reflects the evolution of podcasts as a dominant media form, one that continues to expand its reach and influence. True crime podcasts tap into audiences’ deepest curiosities and fears, blurring the line between information and entertainment, curiosity and caution. As these stories captivate millions, they invite listeners to consider:
Are they simply satisfying curiosity, or is there a deeper need driving the fascination with the darkest sides of human nature?
“It’s a form of entertainment. People like to play detective,” said Prof. Michael Perrota, Chair of the Department of Arts and Communication. “Users can study the evidence and come to their conclusions. It creates a sense of control.”
Mercy College is offering two podcasting courses in the Fall of 2025.
Prof. Parke’s Podcast Creation and Strategy course, MEDA/COMM 242 on Monday nights at 6:15 p.m. and Prof Perrota’s MEDA 295 Narrative Storytelling: Podcasting and Webcasting on Mondays at 11:40 p.m.
