From frat-bro media to Kamala Harris: how the sex podcast Call Her Daddy reached the stratosphere

Alex Cooper's show features no-holds-barred conversations about women, intimacy and mental health. The vice-president's visit offered a chance to connect with the TikTok generation

According to Spotify, Alex Cooper's podcast Call Her Daddy is the second-most-listened-to podcast in the world, behind only The Joe Rogan Experience and with a very different audience. While the audience for Rogan's health advice and anti-woke politics skews heavily male, Cooper's podcast of girls' room secrets, dating stories and therapy-like disclosures is listened to by young, sex-positive women. Cooper, who turned 30 this year, invites guests such as Katy Perry, Heidi Klum and Miley Cyrus to dress down (most appear on the podcast clad in sweatsuits and baseball caps) and share intimate details of their sexual and psychological lives.

Cooper's honesty is wildly popular and profitable; in 2021, she inked a $60m deal with Spotify, one of the biggest ever for a podcast at the time. In August, she signed a new deal worth more than double that, leaving Spotify for a $125m three-year offer from the US radio company SiriusXM.