Podcast Madness Round 2 recap, WTF happened?

In the first round of Podcast Madness, we lost all four of the 2 seeds — the “madness” was on. In the second round, we lost two of the 1 seeds, Twenty Thousand Hertz and WTF with Marc Maron. So, let’s fact check a statement I made in the last recap:

I’m terrible at predicting things

Yep, still true.

The remaining 1 seeds, S-Town and Welcome to Night Vale, are facing their quadrants 5 and 4 seeds, respectively. I mention this (not that my seeds matter) because these are often ripe for upsets too.

The closest matchup of the week was WTF with Marc Maron vs. Fresh Air. But with around 2,000 votes for this matchup, 300 votes still decided the victory. Overall, I was surprised how much closer the first round matchups were compared to the second round. Half of the matchups had the victor earning 70% or more of the vote.

As pointed out on Twitter, Pod Save America has an especially difficult route to the championship. After defeating The Daily in a marquee first round matchup, they beat 99% Invisible (my dark horse pick) in the second round. I had Pod Save America as a 12 seed, what do I know? Now they face Fresh Air and if they advance further they face the winner of This American Life and Lore.

In the Audio Drama Quadrant, the Tanis vs. The Black Tapes matchup was compelling with Pacific Northwest roots. The Black Tapes won the Canadian battle and wins a trip against audio drama juggernaut, Welcome to Night Vale. The lone Gimlet podcast, Homecoming, also continued its reign of terror. Both of their matchups were by commanding nearly 80% of the vote. The Bright Sessions is the lowest remaining seed still left at 15. With a win against Homecoming, they’ll officially be crowned this years’ Cinderella story.

The don’t-call-it-indie Up & Comers Quadrant has probably been my biggest miss of the bracket. The remaining seeds are 3, 5, 9, and 10. I’m a monkey throwing darts. At this point in the tournament, I’m upset I didn’t fill out my own bracket pre-tournament only to show how royally screwed I’d be if there were any real stakes to this. Not necessarily endorsing these podcasts, but here would be my final four: Hi-Phi Nation, S-Town, The Daily, The Blood Crow Stories. Again, I’m picking these podcasts based on who I think would win, not which podcasts I prefer. But yeah, only one left after two rounds, rough.

As expected with any tournament, the matchups get closer in each subsequent round. About two days through voting so far, and none of the matchups have a podcast earning 70% or more of the vote. In five of the eight matchups, the leaders vote share percentage is still in the 50’s. These are looking to come down to the wire. Vote now! Voting is open until Sunday at 7pm ET. 

Who’s in your final four? @ me on Twitter.