7 podcasts we followed faithfully in 2025

The year 2025 was the year of video podcasts and visible market consolidation: professionalization became the standard, production grew more ambitious, and creative demands were higher than ever. Podcasts entered the mainstream through video, complete with studio sets, direction, editing, graphics, and aesthetics reminiscent of television late-night formats. For audiences, this means one thing: podcasts are no longer just an “alternative” medium—they now offer both content and experience. At the same time, listeners are increasingly discovering them through algorithms rather than personal recommendations, which shifts the dynamics of trust but also opens space for new voices and topics.

In Europe, the growth of podcasts is accompanied by strong linguistic and thematic fragmentation, with news podcasts seeing particularly notable development. In countries with strong public broadcasters, podcasts have positioned themselves as trusted formats—a space where complex topics are explained rather than simplified. For audiences, this creates room for understanding, not just information: longer forms, analytical approaches, and narrative arcs foster a sense of continuity and companionship in a chaotic, overloaded media environment. Serbia is also seeing growth and professionalization of its podcast scene, even if public metrics remain modest. Still, the development of infrastructure speaks for itself. In 2025, Podcast.rs clearly established itself not just as an aggregator, but as an entire ecosystem—production, apps, education, and community. For audiences, this translates to more consistent quality, greater variety, and a sense that podcasts are no longer “enthusiast projects,” but a serious media space capable of lasting.

Below is my selection for 2025 (note: not all podcasts debuted this year):

The Coming Storm (BBC)

The Coming Storm demonstrates that conspiracy theories don’t emerge on the margins—they form at the heart of digital culture. Using the story of the QAnon movement, the series reveals how misinformation, algorithms, and political emotions combine into powerful, mass narratives. For listeners, this podcast isn’t just a story about America or extremism—it helps us understand our own digital environment, the mechanics of radicalization, and why simple, seductive stories often outweigh facts.

The Wargame (Sky News & Tortoise Media)

This podcast places former British ministers and political and military analysts in a simulated crisis: a hypothetical Russian attack on the UK and the government’s response to escalating conflict. By blending documentary and dramatic formats, it transforms abstract security threats into concrete human decisions. Instead of theoretical analysis, we hear how people with real power think under pressure, make mistakes, doubt themselves, and calculate risks. For audiences, The Wargame demystifies politics and military strategy, showing that behind “state decisions” are imperfect humans, and the consequences are often far more uncertain than headlines suggest.

Autocracy in America (The Atlantic)

Autocracy in America challenges the belief that democracy is a stable, self-evident category. Through the American example, the podcast shows how autocratic practices creep in gradually—through institutions, legislative procedures, and societal polarization. Hosted by journalist Anne Applebaum and, in its second season, Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and democracy activist, the series focuses on factors like institutional manipulation, public polarization, and the erosion of democratic norms. For audiences, this is more than an analysis of the U.S.—it’s a guide to recognizing patterns globally and a warning that democracy doesn’t vanish overnight but erodes quietly over time.

Throughline (NPR)

Throughline is important because it slows us down. In an era of short-form content and rapid conclusions, this podcast reminds us that contemporary crises have long histories. For listeners, Throughline provides liberating context, helping them see the world not as a series of chaotic, disconnected events, but as a process in which ideas, conflicts, and power unfold over decades. It’s a podcast that fosters understanding, allowing audiences to better respond to current events.

Tragovi (CINS)

In 2025, Tragovi continued to show that serious investigative journalism can find an audience in audio form. Its focus on process—the work of journalists, fact-checking, dead ends, and pressures—builds trust and explains how truth is produced. For audiences, Tragovi is more than stories of scandals shaking Serbian society and politics; it’s a lesson in how systems operate, why abuses persist, and how fragile the boundary between institutions and power can be.

The Retrievals (The New York Times)

This podcast investigates the theft of fentanyl at a Yale fertility clinic, leaving women without adequate anesthesia during invasive medical procedures—often without fully understanding what was happening to them. What makes The Retrievals particularly powerful is its shift from “scandal” to patient experience: their pain, disbelief, and long-term distrust of the system meant to protect them. For listeners, it is an unsettling but necessary insight into how authority, power, and technical medical language can silence individuals, particularly women, and how injustice often only becomes visible when someone insists on naming it. The podcast reminds us that truth is not only in documents and statements but also in listening to experiences long overlooked.

Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky

This podcast opens a space for the kind of public conversation that is always missing: one where personal trauma, media frenzy, and political scandal are not treated as spectacle but as experiences requiring time, context, and empathy. Monica Lewinsky does not attempt to “tell her side of the story” in the traditional sense—she engages guests in discussions on shame, power, public humiliation, digital lynching, and the lasting effects of spectacle culture and cancel culture. The podcast is both intimate and analytical: personal experiences become a starting point for understanding how society creates villains, targets, and enduring stigma. For audiences, Reclaiming is vital because it shows how identity can be rebuilt after being publicly “sealed” by media narratives. In an era of social media, viral shaming, and constant exposure, it offers a crucial perspective—one that values understanding over quick judgment. Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky reminds us that behind every scandal is a human being, and reclaiming one’s voice is not just a deeply personal act, but a political and cultural one as well.