Up First from NPR

The daily episode posts at 5:00 AM ET and attracts 2.1 million average listens, with spikes as high as 3.4 million on elections and major court rulings. NPR reported a 55% increase in Up First downloads on the morning after breaking political news, showing that speed and context win. Listeners who start the day with Up First spend 6.2 hours per week with NPR podcasts, indicating its role as a gateway. It outperforms the average news podcast on completion rate by 29%, proving that a tight, edited digest beats endless commentary.