Xcelcast analysis. The thesis below is our interpretation of the data, not a fact about the show or its audience.
The lead: from #3 to outside the Top 20
Eighteen months ago, I've Had It (Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan) was one of the fastest-rising shows we tracked. It was #3 in our June 2025 rankings, with 8.33% growth on 880K YouTube subscribers (Xcelcast, Jun 2025). An earlier Xcelcast report clocked it at +14.16% on 1.1M+ subs (Xcelcast, "New Voices Rising").
The slowdown came in steps:
Q1 2026: growth eased to +6.12% (Xcelcast, "The Fracture of the Right").
September 2026: the show missed our Top 20 entirely, landing around #40 with 1.75M subs, a 4.6 rating and +1.81% 60-day growth (Xcelcast Top 20, Sep 2026).
Today (Oct 30): the YouTube channel shows 1.77M subscribers and 741.8M lifetime views (YouTube). That's roughly 20K new subs in two months.
Audio tells the same story. On Apple's US Society & Culture chart it hit #15 on Oct 7 (Podhash), slid to #36 on Oct 26 (Pod is Life), and sits at #25 today (Reason.fm). That is a show that once spent 39 days in the category top 3 since Nov 2024 (Reason.fm). Spotify is flatter, holding between #33 and #46 in Society & Culture all month (Pod is Life).
The show isn't collapsing. Ratings remain 4.7 from 18.9K reviews on Apple. But the growth engine has stalled.
Our take: positioning that builds intensity, not reach
Here is Xcelcast's read. I've Had It grew on a hard, unapologetic far-left voice. Its own episode titles this month include "Alright, Alright, Alt Right" and "Patriarchy in Your Pocket," and it promotes Jennifer's book Not Today, Fascists (show notes via Pod is Life). That positioning creates a fiercely loyal, almost devotional core. Reviews call listeners "Gaytriots" and praise the show for "no both-sidesing" (Apple review quoted on Reason.fm).
Intensity is great for retention and merch. It is a ceiling on reach. Once the core is subscribed, new-viewer growth depends on people outside the tribe, and this format isn't built to recruit them. In Q1 we even framed its growth as "geopolitical fatigue," a vibe play. By fall, that vibe had saturated.
Where the data complicates our thesis (and we'll say so):
Left-leaning shows are still growing. In the same Sep 2026 Top 20, The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart grew +7.95% (#4) and Adam Mockler grew +3.43% (#12), both faster than I've Had It (Xcelcast Top 20). Mockler is at 2.26M subs today (YouTube).
Big left audio brands hold steady. Pod Save America is #8 and The Ezra Klein Show #16 on Podtrac's September ranking (Podtrac). The Bulwark debuted in Edison's Q2 Top 50 (Edison via Podnews).
So "left = shrinking" is wrong. The sharper version: outrage-first, in-group comedy is plateauing, while issue-driven and interview-driven shows on every side keep recruiting.
Who is growing: the center and the culture lane
Our September board shows that the winners tend to be broad-tent, curiosity-driven shows:
The Diary of a CEO: +8.70% (#1, 19.2M subs). It's also Edison's record-high climber, cracking the Q2 Top 20 for the first time with guests like JD Vance and Ivanka Trump (Edison via Podnews).
Julian Dorey: +7.94% (#3). A long-form culture and heterodox show.
Shawn Ryan Show: +3.42% (#7). Edison measured its weekly audience up 107% from Q4 2024 to Q2 2026 (Radio Online).
Paul Barron Network: +4.92% (#6), in crypto, tech and politics (listed for completeness).
The big heterodox names are growing, but slowly on huge bases. Sep figures are from the Xcelcast Top 20, and today's sub counts are from the channel pages.
Theo Von: +1.54% (#23); 4.72M → 4.8M today (YouTube).
Breaking Points: +1.48% (#24); 2.09M → 2.12M (YouTube).
All-In: +0.93% (#27); 1.11M → 1.16M (YouTube).
Megyn Kelly: +0.24% (mid-30s). Edison has her weekly audience +115% since Q4 2024, but also the biggest Q2 drop in its Top 50, from #19 to #44.
In other words, not every centrist is booming. Our point is about what recruits new viewers, not which team wins.
The industry backdrop
Political demand is up. Triton's Q2 ranker found News posted the biggest reach gain, +8.4% vs Q1, driven by personality-led commentary before the midterms (Forbes).
The audience is moving to the middle. Signal Hill's Q3 2026 data has Independents at 39% of monthly podcast listeners (up from 36% in Q1), Democrats steady at 33%, and Republicans down to 29%. Pure independents are 20% of podcast consumers versus 11% of adults (Signal Hill Insights). That's the strongest support for our thesis: the growth pool is unaligned listeners.
Reach is at record highs. 58% of Americans 12+ consumed a podcast last month, and YouTube is weekly podcast fans' top platform at 39% (Edison Infinite Dial 2026).
The money is real. US podcast ad revenue reached $2.9B in 2025, up 17.6% (IAB/PwC), and 1 in 4 listeners say a candidate's podcast appearance could sway their vote (Podnews).
Lessons for Creators
Loyalty isn't growth. I've Had It's 4.7 rating held while growth fell from 8.33% to 1.81%. Watch subscriber velocity, not just engagement.
Recruit the independents. With 39% of listeners now independent (Signal Hill), formats that invite the unaligned have the biggest pool to draw from.
Guests open new doors. Diary of a CEO's cross-aisle bookings coincided with its first Edison Top 20. Booking outside your base brings in new viewers.
Issue-driven beats vibe-driven. Jon Stewart and Mockler grew faster than I've Had It from the same side of the aisle. Position the show on substance, not identity.
Video is the front door. YouTube is #1 for weekly podcast fans (39%). Stalled YouTube subs mean stalled discovery.
Diversify revenue before the plateau. Books, merch and Substack (all of which I've Had It runs) cushion a slowdown. Spotify now lets creators keep 90% of membership revenue (Spotify).
What We're Watching
The Diary of a CEO: #1 on our Sep board at +8.70%, and a record Edison high.
Julian Dorey: +7.94% on 1.4M subs, the heterodox long-form lane.
The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart: +7.95%, the left-leaning show that breaks our thesis.
Adam Mockler: +3.43%, 2.26M subs, and a young progressive audience still growing.
Breaking Points: left-right populism, 2.12M subs.
I've Had It: Apple #25 today. Can a midterm bump restart growth?
Sources and notes: Xcelcast rankings (Jun 2025; Q1 2026; Top 20 Sep 9, 2026, with 60-day growth to Sep 8). Apple and Spotify Society & Culture ranks are from Podhash (Oct 7–16), Pod is Life (Oct 13–26) and Reason.fm (Oct 30). YouTube subscriber counts are from public channel pages on Oct 30, 2026 (rounded, as displayed). Edison Q2 2026 Top 50 and the conservative-audience study are via Podnews and Radio Online. The Triton Q2 ranker is via Forbes. Signal Hill Insights covers Q3 2026. Podtrac covers September 2026. Quotes are episode titles and show notes as listed on Pod is Life, plus an Apple review shown on Reason.fm. No news coverage was found that directly explains the show's slowdown; the causal thesis is Xcelcast's analysis.