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related: Open Society Foundations · Democratic National Committee
Who They Are
Crooked Media is a Democratic Party media operation founded in January 2017 by three Obama White House communications veterans: Jon Favreau (Director of Speechwriting 2005-2013), Jon Lovett (Presidential Speechwriter), and Tommy Vietor (NSC Spokesman 2011-2012). Dan Pfeiffer (Obama’s Senior Advisor for Strategy and Communications) co-hosts. The company was explicitly designed to function as “for Democrats what Fox News is for Republicans” — a 24/7 messaging apparatus for party establishment talking points.
Flagship product: Pod Save America, launched Jan 2017, ~1.5M listeners per episode. The network expanded to 25+ podcasts including Pod Save the People, Pod Save the World, Keep It, and Lovett or Leave It. YouTube channel: 1.2M subscribers. Revenue estimated $20-32M annually from podcast advertising, “Friends of the Pod” subscriber base (35K+ paid subscribers at $9.99/month), live touring, and merchandise.
Vote Save America, the super PAC affiliate, raised $32M in Q3 2020 directed to Democratic candidates and causes.
The Funding Model
Initial phase (2017-2022): Self-funded by founders. Favreau at SXSW 2017: “Clearly, we’re not raising money.”
Soros investment (Sept 2022): George Soros Fund Management made an undisclosed investment in Crooked Media, deepening alignment with the Democratic donor elite. The investment was structured as a minority stake with no announced equity percentage or capital amount.
Consortium acquisition (Dec 2024): Crooked Media joined a Soros-co-invested consortium to acquire First We Feast / Hot Ones from BuzzFeed for $82.5M, expanding the audio-visual media empire and signaling Soros’s commitment to controlling the progressive media narrative.
Revenue streams:
- Podcast advertising: Est. $25-35M annually (PSA alone), 25 active sponsors
- Sponsored brands: BetterHelp, SimpliSafe, ZipRecruiter, Squarespace, Masterclass (all DTC lifestyle/consumer brands; notably absent: defense contractors, financial institutions, political PACs)
- Subscriptions: Friends of the Pod (35K+ paid subscribers × $9.99/month = ~$4.2M annually recurring)
- Live tours and events
- Merchandise and YouTube monetization
No major institutional investors publicly disclosed beyond Soros Fund Management.
FEC Record
Employee contributions (2024 cycle): Crooked Media employees collectively contributed $208,606 to Democratic candidates and committees:
- Democratic National Committee: $61,700
- Kamala Harris for President: $28,403
- Various state and federal Democratic committees: remainder
This represents a concentration of political giving among staff that reflects the company’s institutional alignment with the Democratic Party apparatus. OpenSecrets tracks Crooked Media as organization ID D000094217 with detailed contribution history.
Who Funds Them
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George Soros (primary institutional investor): Soros Fund Management investment (Sept 2022, undisclosed amount). Deeper alignment formalized through Dec 2024 Hot Ones consortium participation.
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DTC consumer brands (25 sponsors): BetterHelp, SimpliSafe, ZipRecruiter, Squarespace, Masterclass, and 20+ others. These sponsors gain access to 1.5M politically engaged listeners per episode and shape acceptable advertising tone.
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Friends of the Pod subscribers (35K+): Direct audience revenue; creates financial incentive to maintain subscriber loyalty through consistent messaging.
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Democratic political infrastructure (indirect): Vote Save America, ballot measures, voter registration drives funded by Democratic mega-donors and bundlers.
What They Push
Crooked Media’s editorial stance:
- Messaging: Democratic Party official talking points, Biden/Harris administration defense, anti-Trump mobilization
- Voter mobilization: Vote Save America raised $32M in Q3 2020 for Democratic turnout
- Structural avoidances: Coverage systematically excludes Obama-era drone strikes (Vietor was NSC Spokesman during the expansion of the drone program), bank bailouts, deportations under Obama (~3M), ACA compromises with insurance industry, or systemic critiques of Democratic donor class priorities
The editorial ceiling is set by the founders’ own political history: they cannot critique the administration they served without undermining their brand authority and political viability.
The Audience Capture Model
Crooked Media’s audience IS the Obama coalition — educated, professional-class Democrats with disposable income, concentrated in urban and suburban coastal markets. The founders’ White House background creates a specific type of audience capture: their authority comes from access to power, which means structural critique of power — or the Democratic establishment that granted them access — is off-limits.
The mechanism:
- Authority through insider status: “We worked in the White House, so we know what’s really happening” — this claim requires defending Democratic institutional legitimacy
- Audience overlap: The 1.5M listeners are the same people who donate to Democratic campaigns, attend DNC events, and whose votes are called “turnout” in Democratic strategy
- Soros alignment: With Sept 2022 investment, Soros gained both equity stake and editorial influence over the dominant progressive podcast network — the largest media operation on the left
The constraint: If content challenges Democratic establishment priorities (as Hot Take climate coverage did), it gets canceled — even when profitable.
What Their Funders Got
Soros: Influence over 1.5M-person audience weekly; control of the dominant progressive media narrative; protection against left critique of Democratic institutional failures; and direct alignment with Democratic Party infrastructure.
DTC sponsors: Access to politically engaged, high-income listeners; brand association with progressive values without having to take progressive positions on labor, climate, or regulation.
Democratic Party: A media operation run by former staffers that raised $32M in 2020, mobilizes voters, and packages Democratic talking points as independent analysis. Structural function: channeling progressive energy into Democratic Party loyalty rather than systemic critique.
Vote Save America: $32M in Q3 2020 for Democratic candidates, funded by Democratic mega-donors funneled through a super PAC that looks grassroots because the founders have podcast audiences.
Class Analysis
Crooked Media is the clearest case in the left media ecosystem of media functioning as party infrastructure. The revolving door is the product, not a side effect:
- Founded by political operatives (not journalists): Favreau, Lovett, Vietor all served in executive communications roles
- Funded by a major Democratic donor: Soros Fund Management investment signals explicit alignment with establishment Democratic interests
- Staffed entirely by Democratic loyalists: $208K in employee contributions to Democratic committees in 2024
- Explicitly designed as Democratic Fox News: The founding premise is not journalism or analysis — it’s partisan messaging
The editorial constraint is proven by the Hot Take case: When a climate podcast Crooked acquired refused to “applaud Biden as a climate champion” and provided critical coverage of the Inflation Reduction Act (which both critics and Soros agree is inadequate), Crooked canceled the show — even though it was 30,000 downloads above target and breaking even. They deleted the entire Apple feed, destroying 3 years of subscriber history and reviews. They demanded the hosts sign a non-disparagement agreement. Then they inserted BP advertising into the climate podcast feed.
This is not editorial discretion. This is editorial control exercised by a political operator (Favreau) to protect Democratic institutional credibility.
Structural function: Crooked Media serves the Democratic donor class by:
- Translating donor-class priorities (Soros, Wall Street, healthcare industry) into “progressive” messaging
- Channeling progressive energy into electoral politics rather than structural critique
- Protecting Democratic leaders from accountability for compromises with business interests
- Creating a closed-loop feedback system: voters → Democratic candidates → Democratic staffers → media operation → back to voters
Capture Architecture
Revenue dependency: Podcast advertising ($25-35M) + Soros investment + subscriptions creates a three-layer funding model where:
- Ad sponsors require “brand-safe” content: No deep critique of capitalism, labor issues, or regulatory capture that would upset advertiser interests
- Soros investment buys editorial alignment: Undisclosed investment terms likely include content consultation rights
- Subscriber base locks in audience loyalty: Must maintain “Democrats good, Republicans bad” messaging to retain 35K+ paying subscribers
Founders: All Obama White House alumni with ongoing political relationships. Their media credibility rests on Democratic institutional legitimacy.
Editorial red lines (structurally enforced):
- Cannot critique Obama foreign policy without undermining Vietor’s NSC credentials
- Cannot critique Wall Street without attacking Democratic mega-donor class
- Cannot critique Democratic climate policy without attacking Soros-aligned priorities
- Cannot critique Democratic immigration compromises without attacking their own staffing relationships
The business model depends on the party working: If Democrats lose power, the message (“we have inside access”) evaporates. This creates structural incentive to suppress left critique of Democratic strategy failures.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Key Players | Amount | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2017 | Crooked Media founded | Favreau, Lovett, Vietor, Pfeiffer | Self-funded | Launch of Democratic Party media operation; explicit Fox News model for Dems |
| Mar 2017 | SXSW keynote | Jon Favreau | — | “We’re not raising money” — signals founder-funded independence |
| Q3 2020 | Vote Save America fundraising | — | $32M | Super PAC affiliate raises $32M for Democratic candidates in single quarter |
| Jan 2022 | Crooked acquires Hot Take | Favreau, Hot Take hosts | — | Acquisition of climate-focused podcast in progressive media consolidation |
| Sept 2022 | Soros Fund Management investment | George Soros, Jon Favreau | Undisclosed | Strategic investment aligns Crooked with Democratic donor elite; editorial implications emerge later |
| Dec 2022 | Hot Take canceled for climate critique | Favreau vs. hosts Katherine Bagshaw & Felix Salmon | — | Podcast canceled despite 30K downloads above target; hosts refused “applaud Biden as climate champion” demand |
| Dec 2022 | Hot Take Apple feed deleted | Crooked Media | — | Entire 3-year subscriber history erased; non-disparagement agreement demanded; BP ad inserted into feed |
| 2024 | Employee political contributions | Crooked staff | $208,606 | Concentrated giving to Democratic Party infrastructure |
| Dec 2024 | First We Feast / Hot Ones acquisition consortium | Crooked + Soros investors | $82.5M | Crooked joins Soros-aligned consortium to acquire Hot Ones; audio-visual media empire expands |
| Mar 2024 | WGA East statement | Writers Guild | — | Union notes “intervention does not lead to degradation of working conditions, which has unfortunately already begun” at Crooked Media |
Sources
- Vox/Recode: Crooked Media launch (Mar 2017) (Tier 2)
- Semafor: Soros building audio empire (Apr 2024) (Tier 2)
- Deadline: Hot Ones acquisition (Dec 2024) (Tier 2)
- OpenSecrets: Crooked Media contributions (Org ID D000094217) (Tier 1)
- Hot Take Swan Song statement (Dec 2022) (Tier 3 — primary source from hosts explaining cancellation)
- Wikipedia: Crooked Media (Tier 3)
- Crooked Media official sponsors page (Tier 3)
- NY Post: Progressive staff rebellion (Aug 2024) (Tier 4 — partisan but documents internal tensions and WGA statement)
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