Ina Garten to Start a Podcast With Vox Media

Everybody wanted Ina.

Suitors flew from California and Washington to the Upper East Side in pursuit of Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa. They brought gifts, including bags of candies and a jar of homemade pickles.

What they were after was a piece of the beloved Food Network star’s forthcoming foray into podcasting, a move that prompted a bidding war and secured her a seven-figure deal with Vox Media — an unusual level of interest for a yet-to-be-made show.

The scrum for “Happy Hour With Ina Garten,” which will be released in September, signals the booming interest in TV-show-style video podcasts hosted by charismatic, chatty personalities who can rope in their famous friends. The industry’s priorities have shifted after a spate of layoffs and closings in the last few years. Companies are now especially interested in people who already have strong followings, especially known “brands” like Ms. Garten and Oprah Winfrey, who just started her own video podcast with Amazon.

Ms. Garten, who has cooked with everyone from Emily Blunt to Stephen Colbert in her 20-plus years on the Food Network, will limit herself to cocktail- and mocktail-making as she pursues deeper conversations than those she felt she could have on TV.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/business/ina-garten-podcast.html