Vox Media has signed an exclusive three-year advertising sales and marketing agreement with The Bulwark, executives told Axios. The deal makes Vox Media the sole ad seller for the political media company’s podcasts, video, newsletters, and live events. Beginning in 2027, Vox Media’s advertising partners will have access to nearly 200 hours of original current affairs programming per month, the companies said.

Vox Media will host The Bulwark’s podcasts on its advertising platform, including the flagship “The Bulwark Daily with Tim Miller.” It will also provide analytics, cross-promotion, and marketing support across its network, according to Axios. The Bulwark will continue to produce its own shows. Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff confirmed to Axios that the company will take a cut of advertising revenue. The companies declined to disclose financial terms.

The Bulwark’s lineup also includes “The Focus Group” with Sarah Longwell, “The Next Level,” “Psycho Politics with George Conway,” and “Receipts with Catherine Rampell.” It joins a Vox Media current affairs slate that includes “Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara,” “High Stakes” with Hillary Clinton and Kara Swisher, “Raging Moderates” with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov, and “Today, Explained.”

Outsourcing the Sales Operation

Longwell, The Bulwark’s publisher and CEO, told Axios the company’s inventory is undermonetized. She said building its own advertising sales operation “was more than we wanted to take on.” She added that a more sophisticated advertising strategy would help keep much of its content free. “You can’t save democracy from behind a paywall,” she said.

The Bulwark previously sold podcast advertising through a deal with Cumulus Media. Longwell told Axios she hopes Vox Media will help the company attract premium advertisers and develop cross-platform sponsorship packages. The companies also plan to expand live event sponsorship in 2027. That effort will build on The Bulwark’s live tours and on Vox Media’s tours for Pivot and Prof G Markets.

The Bulwark launched in 2019. It is on track to exceed $30 million in revenue this year, split roughly evenly between advertising and subscriptions, Longwell told Axios. The company has about 167,000 paid subscriptions (147,000 on Substack, about 15,000 on YouTube, and about 5,000 on Apple).

“We’re a big media company now, and I think we’re the future,” Longwell told Axios, noting that she has no plans to sell the company.

A Network Model for Independent Media

Until now, Vox Media’s podcast network has mainly served individual hosts such as Swisher, Clinton, Esther Perel, and Sue Bird. The deal extends it to independent media companies. “The Bulwark represents a big leap forward in that because of their size and quality,” Bankoff told Axios.

Bankoff said Vox Media can also provide partners with production, promotion, distribution, and back-office support. He added that the company will remain selective. “We’ve always been a curated network,” he said. “We want to find partners that have a quality threshold that really matters to marketers.”

In July, Vox Media sold its podcast network and several publishing assets, including New York Magazine, to James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems. Murdoch also backs The Bulwark through Quadrivium, the family foundation he runs with his wife, Kathryn. “We are not an investor-owned company,” Longwell told Axios.

The deal comes as political audio gains share. According to Triton Digital’s Q2 U.S. Podcast Ranker, news podcast reach rose 8.4% quarter over quarter to 25.7% in the second quarter of 2026, the largest gain of any category. Personality-led political shows drove much of that growth, outpacing legacy news brands ahead of the midterms.

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