The company's offerings encompass a network ofpodcasts; a news and opinion website; live shows and tours; and a social media and live streaming presence. It aims to foster open conversation between those withcenter-left political leanings and supportgrassroots activism and political participation.
The company's flagship podcast,Pod Save America, airs thrice weekly and averages more than 1.5 million listeners an episode. In Fall 2018, fourPod Save America one-hour specials aired onHBO.[5] By November of its first year, the podcast had been downloaded more than 120 million times, and 175 million times by February 2018.[6][5] By 2024, the podcast counted over 20 million monthly listeners.[7]
The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[1]
Favreau, Lovett, Vietor, and Pfeiffer hostedThe Ringer'sKeepin' It 1600 political podcast from March 2016 until December 2016.
In 2016, Favreau, Lovett, and Vietor started podcasting and activism on a full-time basis. The three formed the Crooked Media company in January 2017 and launched a new podcast calledPod Save America the following month.[8] Pfeiffer opted not to join the company, and instead to co-host the Thursday edition of the show.[9] Crooked Media is named after a favorite term used byDonald Trump. When asked whether he thought Crooked Media was a 'media company',Favreau said, "I don't know if it's a political movement or a media company".[10]
The company announced a major expansion in October 2017 with the launch of Crooked.com, a text journalism site helmed by Editor-In-Chief Brian Beutler, a formerNew Republic senior editor. The expansion introduced the "Crooked Contributors" network, a group of progressive journalists, activists, organizers, policy experts, campaign veterans, and comedians who would be featured in podcasts, videos, and articles produced by the company.[11]
The company uses advertising revenue to fund the business.[1]
Pod Save America is a thrice weeklyprogressivepolitical podcast. On Tuesdays, it is hosted by Favreau, Vietor, and Lovett, and, on Thursdays, it is hosted by Favreau and Pfeiffer.Pod Save America explicitly aims to encourage its listeners to engage in activism and political persuasion.[10][12][13]
Pod Save America has run a number of special series and mini-series. For example, Tommy Vietor hosted a series on the2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses,[14] and Dan Pfeiffer and Alyssa Mastromonaco hosted a series on the vice presidential candidateselection process.[15]
Hosted by organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson,[16][17]Pod Save the People "explores social justice, culture, politics – and the various ways they all collide".[18]
Hosted by Lovett, a former speech and joke writer for President Obama.Lovett or Leave It is a recording of a weekly live show and features the eponymous host dissecting the news with a panel of guests. The show features a variety of games and one-on-one interviews centering on the week's news andAmerican politics.[19]
Other podcasts that have been produced and distributed by Crooked Media include:
The Wilderness, a docuseries hosted by Jon Favreau related to the status and future of the Democratic Party[22]
With Friends Like These, an interview-based podcast that aims to showcase discussions between people who disagree or come from different backgrounds, hosted byAna Marie Cox[13]
Offline, a podcast about how being extremely online is "shaping everything from politics and culture to the ways we live, work, and interact with one another."[26][27]
Crooked Media has produced multiple live tours. The first tour by Crooked Media podcasts was in fall of 2017. The tour featured live versions ofPod Save America andLovett or Leave it, and appearances from DeRay Mckesson, Ana Marie Cox, and other guests.[47] Crooked Media tours have not just visited locations in the United States, including a 2018 tour with performances inStockholm, Oslo,Amsterdam, and London.[48]
Crooked Media engages directly in political activism, including advocating forcenter-left policies and candidates, supportingget out the vote efforts, raising money, and encouraging political demonstrations.[6] In elections from 2017 onwards, the company has collaborated withMoveOn on direct activism efforts, such as directingPod Save America listeners toRepublican town-hall meetings, and withSwing Left andIndivisible to raise money and encourage activism relevant to the2018 United States elections and theAffordable Care Act.[6][49] TheLos Angeles Times reported that according to Crooked Media, it raised $2.7 million and directed 22,000 volunteers to fill shifts in competitive races during the 2018 midterms.[50]
In May 2019, the Crooked Media campaign "Vote Save America" launched the F*ck Gerry(mandering) Fund withData for Progress to direct listeners' donations to 14 of the closest races in Virginia.[51][52]
Ahead of the 2020 election cycle, under the umbrella of Vote Save America, they raised $32 million in the third quarter of 2020, which was directed to Democratic candidates.[53] Through the Vote Save America program, Crooked Media has partnered withFair Fight, an organization founded by former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial nomineeStacey Abrams, which is devoted to fighting voter suppression.[54][55]
As of January 2024, Vote Save America planned to focus on fundraising for and directing volunteers to competitive down-ballot races for congress as well as ballot initiatives because of the lack of interest in the Biden candidacy.[56] As of March 2024, it was giving money each month to grassroots organizations in battleground states to dovoter registration.[57]
The company's podcasts regularly sit near the top of the iTunes list of most popular podcasts.[10]New York Times has called Crooked Media 'the left's answer to conservative talk radio'.[6]Pod Save America was called "the nation's most popular political podcast" byNewsweek in 2017.[13] Reviewing the first episodes of the company's flagship podcast,The Guardian noted: "Pod Save America's commentators are sparky and funny—and they have a habit of talking a whole lot of sense."[58]
