
Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio ... more
| Publishes | Daily | Episodes | 1385 | Founded | 20 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | Society & CultureNewsPolitics | |||

When a book becomes a hit TV series, or a play becomes a Hollywood film, what makes it a great adaptation? Meet the creators of these international smash hits as they take you behind the scenes, into the writers' rooms, and inside their creative mind... more
Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at the Beaker Str... more
Acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien has seen it all, but nothing like right now. And he's not mincing his words. On AI, neoliberalism, education, equality, gutless governments, and more. For over 50 years, he covered the world's biggest stories and ch... more
It's estimated that one in three Australian households have experienced food insecurity. At the same time, one third of all food produced in Australia gets thrown out. For more than two decades, Ronni Kahn has been fighting these dual challenges as h... more
People also subscribe to these shows.




This pod never disappoints.
Just an idea - maybe the complete overreach, anti science and homophobic approach of those wedded to gender ideology has inflicted this damage. It’s called “shooting yourself in the foot.” (One group’s “wants” being given absolute priority over the rights of everyone else certainly isn’t a winning approach.)
This should have been an interesting program, but any “investigative journalist” who uses the word “like” as every fifth word needs some coaching on public speaking before the ABC gives them a platform.
I gave up a few minutes in - too tedious to keep listening.
Excellent podcast among my short-list of #podrecs - the programming is excellent, interviewers and chairs great, guests always invigorating and stimulating. Worth tuning in, following and sharing.
Big ideas is always good but I was so stimulated by this show as Adam traversed issues of politics, culture, science and food. We are so blessed to have our Aunty sharing her sage advice through such interesting people.
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #186 | |
Apple Podcasts | #30 | |
Apple Podcasts | #139 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
A provocateur-minded show features long-form discussions with leading thinkers across politics, science, history, and public policy. Episodes frequently center on global governance, technological change, climate justice, human rights, and memory or culture, often framed as live panel or interview formats that encourage nuanced, policy-relevant dialogue. Notable strengths include high-caliber guests, rigorous moderation, and a willingness to tackle ethically complex or controversial topics with depth and a long-view perspective. This program is likely to appeal to intellectually curious professionals, policy-minded listeners, and academics who enjoy well-structured conversations that connect ideas to real-world outcomes.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Big Ideas. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Big Ideas and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for four million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Big Ideas, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Big Ideas, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Big Ideas has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Big Ideas:
1. Rear Vision — How History Shaped Today
2. Late Night Live — Full program podcast
3. The Minefield
4. All In The Mind
5. Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald
Big Ideas launched 20 years ago and published 1385 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Big Ideas from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Big Ideas. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Big Ideas include:
1. Richard Flanagan
2. Ronni Kahn
3. Chelsea Vowel
4. Mykaela Saunders
5. Tracy Drain
6. David Moscrop
7. Jock Given
8. André Dao
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.