For a podcast that happily jumps from Roe v. Wade to reality TV in a single breath, Big Small Talk has always lived in the in-between – serious but never self-important, playful but rarely shallow.
Now, after just two and a half years on air, hosts Hannah Ferguson and Sarah-Jane Adams are entering a new chapter, taking their fast-growing political and pop-culture brand to LiSTNR.
The flagship show – alongside companion podcasts Small Talk and Big Talk – will officially debut on the platform today, marking a significant milestone for a project that launched in August 2023 and has since grown into a cultural mainstay for millennial and Gen Z women.
Across social channels alone, Big Small Talk now reaches more than 700,000 people each month – a number that speaks not just to scale, but to loyalty.
After all, this is a podcast where listeners tune in for Trump indictments and Sex and the City energy in equal measure – then stay for the chemistry.
Hannah Ferguson
‘We wanted to grow it properly’
For Ferguson, the decision to join LiSTNR wasn’t just about a logo swap. It was about what comes next.
“After two and a half years of doing this podcast, we’ve grown an amazing, loyal, invested, intellectual audience of, you know, predominantly young women. And really, we wanted to grow that more. We wanted to grow our audience, we wanted to accelerate our offering, we wanted to elevate our offering, and LiSTNR is the network to go to do that,” she told Mediaweek.
“We’re going to have much more support and assistance to continue producing high-quality work for hopefully a bigger audience now that we’ve joined this network.”
Behind the scenes, that growth has largely been powered by a tiny, intense operation – with Adams wearing multiple hats as creator, producer, interviewer and editor across all three shows.
“I have always been the sole producer of this show since ideating it. And it’s been such a journey. So, to be able to jump between host and producer is just so much fun,” she said, adding that while she feels “protective” over the content, this year brought a turning point.
“A realisation that I had to have this year was, if you want to continue to grow this show and to reach as many people [as possible], and you really believe in the ethos of it, you can’t do it alone,” she said.
“For me, a really exciting part of it was to be able to work with other producers again, and learning from people and having that sort of support.”
Sarah-Jane Adams
The non-negotiable: creative control
For both hosts, editorial independence was the first line on the checklist.
“When it comes to editorial control, that was one of the first questions, probably the first question we asked when having initial discussions with the network, is that we really wanted to maintain that editorial independence and creative oversight,” Ferguson said.
“And Sarah will continue being our executive producer, which I think points to the fact that they are so willing and open for us to continue developing the product that we are very proud of.”
Looking across the broader LiSTNR lineup – including It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield and The Briefing – that confidence only deepened.
“We know that the people on this network pride themselves on independence and that LiSTNR works with them to actually evolve and elevate their voice and amplify their angles and points of difference,” Ferguson added.
“We feel very confident that we’ll be able to continue reporting on exactly the issues we’re reporting on, to use the same language, but actually just have more support and more experience in the room to help us improve our show rather than actually change anything about the editorial independence of it.”
Sarah echoed that assurance.
“Editorial control was my first question as well, because it was really important to me that I was able to continue to have that and make sure that the show stayed true to us in every way,” she said.
“That was a big part of choosing LiSTNR as well”.
From pop gossip to political primers
What’s made Big Small Talk resonate so widely is its refusal to pick a single lane. One week, it’s dissecting election discourse and reproductive rights. Next, it’s unpacking celebrity weddings and dating drama.
And that balance is entirely intentional.
“We are often the place that people come to get their first bite of political news and pop culture information every week,” Ferguson said.
“The fact that they’re engaging with our conversations and hearing us disagree and change our minds and remain open to making mistakes is a really important facet for me of being a role model.”
But she’s quick to point out that the show doesn’t pretend to replace traditional journalism.
“We are not a replacement for a news diet. We are simply a discussion point, a conversational piece, an opinion, an opinion-based podcast that delivers the facts of the news but reflects modern progressive conversations about the issues that matter across news and pop culture,” she said.
“We want to be part of a really broad news diet for people as opposed to just their one-stop shop.”
A podcast that crosses generations
While the show is often framed as youth-driven, one of its most surprising strengths has been who else is listening.
“One of my favourite things about the podcast is that we sit across generational lines,” Ferguson said.
“We have mums and daughters and grandmas that will tune into the podcast, and people saying that they get their 15-year-old sons to listen in the car with them, and it sparks interesting conversations.”
Sarah sees the same pattern play out.
“One of the most beautiful feedback we get is people saying, I listen with my mum or ‘ my grandmothers listen with their granddaughters,” she said.
“It’s just so cool when I hear stories of women listening to the podcast together and then having different feedback based on their different lived experiences.”
It’s also why the hosts reject the idea that their influence only extends to people who look and sound like them.
“We really want to have listeners that disagree, listeners that come from different backgrounds, listeners that want to have a conversation,” Ferguson said.
“That’s what we’re trying to model. Healthier discussions in the public square.”
Ferguson and Adams.
‘It’s cool to care’
With audience scale comes a different kind of pressure – and neither host shies away from that.
“This is so surreal and such a sweet concept to be a role model for somebody, and of course, at the same time, that is super daunting and a huge, huge responsibility,” Adams said.
“If people are looking at us or the show to learn anything – I would really just hope the takeaways are that women are multifaceted, and that it is cool to care, and it is cool to have opinions and that knowledge is a superpower.”
For Hannah, that responsibility is something she actively embraces.
“I think it’s important to feel the pressure and feel the responsibility,” she said.
“I take it very seriously. I think it’s a privilege to be taken very seriously.”
Why LiSTNR wanted them
LiSTNR’s Head of Factual, Clair Weaver, said the partnership was a natural fit.
“Hannah and Sarah are smart, engaged and inspiring – and we’re delighted to welcome them into LiSTNR,” she said.
“They’ve done a fantastic job building Big Small Talk into a really strong show with a loyal community, and we look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their audience, influence and success.”
Big Small Talk will continue to drop every Tuesday at 5pm, with the first LiSTNR-era episode landing on Tuesday, 9 December. Listeners can tune in for free via the LiSTNR app.