Best News Podcasts: Seven Shows, Sorted by the Minutes You Have

Most news habits fail on time, not taste. You subscribe to five shows and play none. A list of famous shows won’t fix that. Run times and release schedules are daily work for our podcast production company, so we started with minutes. The table below puts who makes each show, its length and its schedule side by side.

Pick a news podcast by the minutes you have

Most news lists rank shows by fame. Start with the time you can spare instead, because a news habit falls apart when it doesn’t fit your day. Think of three time slots:

• The 15 minute slot. A short briefing that covers the day’s biggest stories.
• The 25 minute slot. One or two stories explained with more context.
• The 55 minute slot. A long, opinionated talk between two people who disagree or compare notes.

Which formats do people actually use? In an August 2025 survey, Pew Research Center found that 69% of news podcast listeners at least sometimes hear shows that explain a topic in depth. Another 61% hear opinion shows and 58% hear daily summaries, and most mix formats, as the Pew fact sheet shows.

The shows that promise the least time often take more. The Daily calls itself twenty minutes a day, yet its eight latest episodes ran from 29 to 44 minutes. Check the real length before you add a show to your morning.

How we picked these seven

We kept shows that publish on a steady schedule and say who makes them. From Apple Podcasts we recorded each show’s publisher, hosts, rating, episode lengths and update schedule.

We dropped any show with an unclear schedule. The Journal and The Rest Is Politics made it because both publish regularly.

A quick note on bias. A list like this can’t tell you whether a show is accurate or fair, and we haven’t ranked shows by politics. We describe format, length and who makes each one, so check any show against two other sources before you rely on it.

The quick comparison

Lengths and schedules drift, so treat them as a rough guide.

The 15 minute slot

1. Up First

Never kept up with the news? Start here, with NPR Up First, which promises the day’s three biggest stories in about 10 minutes, and recent weekday episodes run 12 to 16 minutes. The weekday chair is shared by A Martinez, Michel Martin, Steve Inskeep and Leila Fadel.

The feed lists about 1.4 thousand episodes and a 4.6 rating from about 59,000 ratings, and it’s the easiest show here to fit before work. On weekends, pair it with one longer show.

Best for: a quick, reliable briefing before your day starts. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

The 25 minute slot

2. The Journal

The Journal gives you the story behind a business headline, which is perfect when you want to know why something happened. Ryan Knutson and Jessica Mendoza host the daily show about money, business and power, a co-production of the Wall Street Journal and Spotify Studios.

The feed lists about 1.9 thousand episodes and a 4.2 rating from about 5,800 ratings. Recent episodes run 18 to 28 minutes, a bit shorter than the other shows in this slot.

Best for: curious people who want the story behind the headline. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

3. Today, Explained

Today, Explained takes one story a day and unpacks it until it makes sense. Vox publishes it, with Sean Rameswaram and Noel King hosting and guest hosts on some episodes. Most episodes run about 26 minutes.

The show has about 2 thousand episodes and a 4.3 rating from about 10,100 ratings.

Best for: listeners who want one story unpacked instead of a list of headlines. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

4. Marketplace

Marketplace explains the economy to people with no finance background, and it does it without the jargon. Kai Ryssdal has led the program since 2005, according to the Marketplace show page, and American Public Media produces it.

It holds a 4.6 rating from about 8,650 ratings, and recent episodes run 25 to 26 minutes. That makes it a tidy weekday habit.

Best for: anyone who wants the economy explained in plain words. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

5. Global News Podcast

The BBC World Service publishes this show twice a day on weekdays and once a day on weekends. It covers world news from a global base rather than a US one.

It holds a 4.3 rating from about 6,900 ratings, and recent episodes run about 26 to 34 minutes. If most of your news comes from US outlets, this is the quickest way to add a second view.

Best for: a global view that goes beyond US headlines. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

6. The Daily

The Daily is the show most people think of first, and it’s easy to see why. The New York Times runs it, with Michael Barbaro, Natalie Kitroeff and Rachel Abrams hosting, and each episode follows one major story with reporters from the paper.

It holds a 4.3 rating from about 106,000 ratings, the largest count on this page. Plan for 29 to 44 minutes, which runs well past the twenty in its tagline.

Best for: listeners who like one big story told with reporters from the paper. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

The 55 minute slot

7. The Rest Is Politics (UK based)

Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart discuss current affairs in the UK and abroad, and their back-and-forth is half the fun. Goalhanger publishes it twice a week, and recent full episodes run from about 58 minutes to 1 hour 8 minutes. Some subscriber-only versions are listed too.

It has about 680 episodes and a 4.3 rating from about 790 ratings. It leans toward opinion more than briefing, so it helps most if you already know the headlines.

Best for: a long drive and a taste for lively political talk. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Best morning news podcast: what fits before work

What’s the best morning news podcast? It depends on your first task of the day. A walk to the train needs a short briefing, while a long commute can handle a full explainer.

For the best podcast for morning news, try Up First first. Its promise is the day’s three biggest stories, usually in 12 to 16 minutes. The Daily and Today, Explained work better after the briefing, once you want one story in depth.

It also helps to play it at the same point each day, such as while the coffee brews. A fixed cue makes the habit stick.

Best business news podcasts: The Journal and Marketplace

Want the best business news podcasts, or the best daily business news podcasts? Two shows on this page fit, and both publish on weekdays or daily.

• The Journal covers money, business and power, with stories built around one company or decision. It runs 18 to 28 minutes.
• Marketplace explains the economy in plain words and runs about 25 minutes.

Our take: pick The Journal for the story behind a headline and Marketplace for a daily read on the economy. Neither gives you market data, so a trader still needs a separate source.

Good news podcasts: when headlines wear you out

Tired of alarming headlines but still want the news? Good news podcasts are one answer. The Podcast.co list of news shows names The Good News Podcast at about five minutes.

It isn’t one of our seven. Treat any good news show as a short extra. It leaves out the hard stories by design, so it can’t replace a daily briefing.

How to build a news habit that lasts

Start small. The best daily podcasts are the ones you finish. Pick one show that fits your mornings and play it for two weeks, then add a second only when the first feels easy.

Match the show to the moment:

• 15 minutes: A briefing fits a walk to the train.
• 25 minutes: An explainer fits a commute or a workout.
• 55 minutes: A long talk fits a drive or a long chore, where you can follow the thread without stopping.

Use the speed controls on your player, but don’t lean on them too hard. Playing a show at 1.25 times saves about five minutes on a 25 minute episode. It can also make dense reporting harder to follow, so go back to normal speed if you’re rewinding a lot.

Set a stopping rule. Unsubscribe from any show you skip three times in a row. A feed full of unplayed episodes makes the whole habit feel like a debt.

Three news habits that go wrong

• Echoes. Three shows from the same outlet cover the same story, so you hear one view three times. Add a show from a different publisher, such as the BBC next to a US show.
• Constant drip. You play news in every spare minute and remember none of it. Pick one briefing and one deeper show, then stop.
• One source only. Every show you follow shares a viewpoint. Check one claim a week in a source you don’t usually read.

Each habit starts the same way: your feed was built from what the app recommended, and your actual free time got ignored. Write down your minutes first. Then choose.

What news shows teach people who make podcasts

Thinking about making a show of your own, whether for a brand or as the business itself? News podcasts are a useful model because: they publish on a clock. Marketplace airs every weekday, and The Journal and The Daily publish most days, which takes a team, a calendar and a process.

A daily pace is rarely right for a new show, but the discipline is. Decide your schedule, name who approves each episode and keep a backup plan for a missed day. Our guide to what a podcast producer does breaks down those roles.

Length is the second lesson: Up First shows that a short episode can still feel complete with a clear promise. Your show can do the same with a 15 minute episode that answers one question your listeners keep asking. Our notes on recording a podcast and on podcast editing cover the craft behind that tight format.

Want help carrying the schedule? An agency can run the calendar. Our podcast management service covers the weekly work.

What we can’t tell you

We can’t tell you which show is the most accurate. Ratings are fan scores, and they say little about sourcing. We also left out the newest episode titles, since they date fast.

The simplest test is a week. Play one show from your slot each day, keep what you finish and drop the rest. For other genres, see our lists of political podcasts, history podcasts and true crime podcasts.

Conclusion

Choose your news podcast by your minutes. One short briefing and one deeper show cover most weeks, and a show from a different publisher keeps your view balanced.

Thinking about a show of your own? Book a call and we’ll go over length, schedule and goals with you.