Podcasting is large in 2026, and this audio medium has been rising steadily over the 2 previous many years. Based on a current report, the worldwide podcast viewers in 2025 has reached roughly 584 million listeners, marking a 6.8% enhance over 2024, with projections to exceed 650 million by 2027. Over 4.5 million podcasts are listed globally, although solely about 10-11% are actively publishing, because the market shifts in the direction of high-quality, video-enabled content material.
On this crowded media panorama, the place thousands and thousands of podcasts vie for a fleeting second of consideration, one present has managed to do the unattainable: flip a distinct segment museum undertaking into a world powerhouse.
SpyCast, the official podcast of the Worldwide Spy Museum in Washington D.C., has not solely claimed its territory within the high 1% of podcast downloads worldwide, however has additionally set the gold normal for a way cultural establishments can leverage audio storytelling.
As a part of this operation is SpyCast’s lead producer Flora Warshaw, a New York-based storyteller whose background in journalism and worldwide relations has helped remodel SpyCast right into a weekly must-listen for 1000’s of listeners per episode.
Warshaw’s journey to the world of espionage wasn’t a linear one, nevertheless it was maybe inevitable. A Historical past and Worldwide Relations main as an undergraduate with a Grasp of Science in Journalism from Columbia College, Warshaw was searching for a job that bridged her tutorial passions along with her inventive abilities.
“I used to be wrapping up work with a earlier firm and a good friend urged it to me,” Warshaw stated. “It appeared like the right mix of all my pursuits. Although, as a New Yorker, I noticed the job was based mostly in D.C., I simply thought, ‘Nice, I’ll get an Amtrak membership.’”
Her transition to SpyCast adopted a profitable stint working for the award-winning children’ podcast Million Bazillion. Now, she applies those self same narrative-building abilities to the shadow world of intelligence.
Whereas many podcasts chase viral moments with “clickbait” headlines or controversial company, Warshaw and the SpyCast group—led by host and journalist Sasha Ingber—have taken a unique route: authenticity.
“We don’t like gimmicks, or flashy headlines, or company which will trigger a stir simply to be able to gasoline a bigger viewers,” Warshaw explains. “We do essential work and have shone a really vibrant mild on the considerably hidden intelligence group.”
This dedication to substance over fashion has paid off. SpyCast is at present one of many high espionage podcasts within the U.S., that includes interviews with everybody from former CIA administrators and FBI brokers to defectors and specialised researchers.
Behind each 28-minute episode is a rigorous manufacturing course of that Warshaw oversees from begin to end. Her calendar is her “greatest good friend,” managing all the things from studio availability to “rigorous analysis” on interviewees earlier than they ever sit within the chair.
“The magic comes within the modifying, whittling down a 60-minute interview into a good 28 minutes,” stated Warshaw. “I wish to ensure that this podcast feels accessible to everybody. I don’t need anybody to really feel out of their depth as a result of they didn’t know the title of a sure unit of the C.I.A.”
By stripping away the “inside baseball” jargon of the intelligence group, Warshaw has made the podcast an entry level for individuals who could by no means have picked up a historical past e book or visited an intelligence museum.
SpyCast started in 2006 as a “enjoyable instructional undertaking” for Peter Earnest, the primary government director of the Worldwide Spy Museum. Beneath Warshaw’s steering, it has advanced right into a group hub, highly effective broadcast software with a religious following and a complicated advertising and marketing platform for the museum.
The podcast serves as a bridge for listeners who could by no means set foot in Washington, D.C., but it concurrently acts as an attractive “on-ramp” for individuals who can. “We lately did an interview with the agent who tracked down a Chinese language spy within the US,” stated Warshaw. “I like how individuals can now see the artifacts obtained within the investigation proper right here within the museum.” Warshaw highlights the upcoming camouflage exhibition opening on the Worldwide Spy Museum in March as a first-rate instance of this synergy. SpyCast will incorporate programming associated to the theme, permitting listeners to listen to the historical past of undercover operations.
As SpyCast approaches its twentieth anniversary, Warshaw just isn’t slowing down. With high-profile company lined up and a mission to achieve youthful audiences and people unfamiliar with the intelligence group, she believes the present’s greatest days are forward.
“To have the ability to discover this world of espionage via such a inventive method is completely fascinating,” stated Warshaw. “I’ve a sense this milestone 12 months could be our greatest.”
Photograph of Flora Warshaw by Liz Mueller, courtesy Worldwide Spy Museum.
