BROOKYLN, N.Y.—The 2025 iteration of On Air Fest marked the year of “more” for the podcast festival. For starters, its three-day run Feb. 19-21 brought nearly 2,000 people to Brooklyn, marking an approximately 40% increase from last year’s attendance figures, according to Scott Newman, the founder and director of both On Air Fest and work x work, the creative agency behind the fest’s production.
In addition, “we had 80 live sessions this year, which is about 25% more than previous years,” Newman told BizBash. And though Newman didn’t tout exactly how much more star power graced On Air Fest’s lineup this year, there was no denying that more celebs than ever were at the forefront of live programming, which featured 200 talent, 20 live podcasts, a video podcast penthouse with Acast, a Creator Hall with Patreon and PAVE Studios, an interstellar sonic discovery room with NASA, and more, per Newman. 
Nearly 2,000 attended On Air Fest 2025, marking an approximately 40% increase from last year’s attendance figures. Live sessions also increased about 25% year over year, according to festival founder and director Scott Newman.Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
This year's lineup boasted a slew of celebs, including CNN anchor Anderson Cooper (pictured), actor Penn Badgley, and comedian Seth Meyers. Naturally, all of them also host their own podcasts.Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
Naturally, all of the A-listers in attendance host podcasts of their own. Take famed CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, for example, whose All There Is podcast was broken down in a session at the festival’s HQ, which is Brooklyn’s Wythe Hotel (as it has been since 2017). The industrial-chic venue also set the stage—literally—for a talk on modern love with Podcrushed co-host Penn Badgley, as well as for Seth Meyers, whose session on risk-taking doubled as a live taping of his hit podcast, Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers.
Audible, Patreon, Dolby, SiriusXM, ESPN, Sony, and NASA were among the many big brands and organizations to activate across the entire hotel, from its cinema cellar to the eighth floor.
Most of the live programming took place at the fest's HQ, Wythe Hotel. (Pictured: Brian Reed, left, and V Spehar, right, during a session titled "Question Everything Live: Taking on Trad Media.")Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
Audio product manufacturer Shure stood out to Newman, who said its “Your Voice in Color” activation “allowed creators and fans alike to step into an immersive audiovisual experience powered by its new microphone." Guests spoke or sang into the new MV7i Smart Microphone, a USB microphone with a built-in interface, which triggered lighting effects that respond to guests' voices, he explained.
Other memorable touchpoints: At Big Fig’s “More Room to Relax Activation,” the mattress store demoed its king-size mattress in the Wythe’s seventh-floor loft hotel room overlooking Manhattan. Attendees were invited to try out the mattress using prompts that inspired intimate conversations about positive body affirmations and self-love, Newman said.
In the spirit of growth, On Air Fest extended its reach to three ancillary venues, which made good on the festival’s promise to deliver art, music, and storytelling alongside podcasting. After all, Newman said that it became clear at the fest that “podcasting now means audio, video, social, and creator platforms.”
It was one of many recurring themes throughout onstage programming, which also included “platform-specific content strategies dominating creator conversations; video podcasting gaining momentum across all demographics; [and] the necessity of fact-checked, legally backed journalism and legacy media in the boom of independent journalists in the creator economy.” 
On Air Fest hosted a livestream pop radio lounge in partnership with Santa Monica, Calif.-based radio station KCRW at its "experiential gallery," formally dubbed the Creator Hall.Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
In anticipation of these emerging themes, On Air Fest 2025 debuted a 15,000-square-foot Creator Hall at XXV Venue, which was described as an “experiential gallery” complete with a livestream pop radio lounge in partnership with Santa Monica, Calif.-based radio station KCRW, as well as opportunities for budding artists to pitch their projects to media execs and producers on site.
Here, "the iconic Norman Seeff’s Joni Mitchell prints were auctioned off to benefit LA wildfire relief,” Newman said. And an ASM(Bar) within the Creator Hall allowed guests to enjoy craft cocktails—proof that On Air Fest stimulates more than just a sense of sound.
“While our roots are in podcasts, we know that partners and audiences are embracing video, social, influencers, and multichannel creators, so we added the Creator Hall,” Newman explained. "We also presented five interactive art experiences [and] three evening performances and parties,” he said of the increased programming.
Among those experiences was a live performance on Feb. 19 dubbed “‘Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know’ Live: A Conspiracy of Sound” at a third venue, nonprofit cultural institution National Sawdust. The experience was positioned as an exploration of “how sound reveals the secrets of life’s most intriguing mysteries.” 
At Big Fig’s “More Room to Relax Activation,” the mattress store demoed its king-sized mattress in the Wythe’s seventh-floor loft hotel room overlooking Manhattan. Guests were invited to try out the mattress using prompts that inspired intimate conversations about positive body affirmations and self-love, Newman explained.Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
The following day, On Air Fest’s official 2025 celebration in partnership with iHeartPodcasts took over 74 Wythe’s rooftop, where guests enjoyed an open bar and Manhattan skyline views as DJ Whutever spun tracks.
The festival’s monumental growth was evident in its heightened ticket prices as well, though Newman said that the team created more ticket tiers this year for a greater number of people to be able to gain access. For reference, BizBash’s coverage of On Air Fest 2023 reported that day passes sold for $187.10. A single-day general admission ticket at the most recent On Air fest, however, ran attendees $249 (or $599 for a VIP pass).
“It's an incredibly rich time for storytellers to embrace audio, video, and live events to share their work. Our programming team and I are insanely curious and always on the lookout for best-in-class creative work to showcase,” Newman said. “On Air Fest’s programming is a reflection of the incredible talent out there using their voices and exploring ideas in new and experimental ways."
Wythe Hotel's penthouse was transformed into the "Video Podcast Penthouse" in partnership with Swedish podcasting firm Acast.Photo: Courtesy of On Air Fest
