Polymarket launched the company’s first podcast on Friday. The weekly show is called “What Are the Odds?” and will look at pop culture broadly—from celebrity news to award shows and movies—informed by how people are betting on all of them through prediction markets.
The show is being positioned as something that will highlight what’s called the “information market” from the perspective of entertainment in a fresh way, aiming to differentiate itself from the more staid and traditional financial media landscape.
The show will feature rotating hosts, according to Variety, including Jackie Oshry from “The Toast”, Taylor Strecker from “Taste of Taylor”, Amanda Hirsch from “Not Skinny But Not Fat,” and Heather McMahan from “Absolutely Not.” All of those shows are currently distributed by Dear Media, which is Polymarket’s partner in “What Are the Odds?”
Josh Tucker, Polymarket’s head of creative marketing, told Variety, “As the world’s largest information market, Polymarket reveals what the world thinks will happen next and ‘What Are the Odds?’ turns that real-time read into conversations led by some of the most beloved voices in podcasting. Our partnership with Dear Media marks a new chapter in how prediction markets capture the pulse of culture around the world.”
It makes a lot of sense for prediction markets to seek to expand interest in celebrity news and bets. Contracts on both Kalshi and Polymarket have been dominated by other topics over the past year, according to Pew Research.
Far and away the most popular topic is sports, which makes up 80% of trading volume on Kalshi and 39% on Polymarket since July 2024, per Pew’s analysis. Cryptocurrency bets also rank highly, with 7% of total volume on Kalshi and 20% of total volume on Polymarket, Pew reports. Politics has made up 4% of volume on Kalshi in the past year and 32% on Polymarket.
If you do some quick math, that means 91% of Polymarket’s volume has involved bets on sports, crypto, and politics. And while we don’t have the data for exactly what the other 9% might be covering, it would make sense for the company to try and grow the pop culture segment of its business, especially given the crowded field in sports gambling and growing regulatory scrutiny.
“Our hosts don’t just cover pop culture—they help shape it,” Dear Media founder and CEO Michael Bosstick told Variety.
“Pop culture moves fast, and partnering with Polymarket gives our hosts a new way to engage with the stories and conversations capturing people’s attention. ‘What Are the Odds?’ leverages the platform in a way that’s uniquely Dear Media, with hosts reacting in real time to what people are predicting and sharing their unfiltered takes along the way. The show creates a compelling new way to engage audiences, bringing a fresh perspective to the stories people can’t stop talking about.”
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