Serial

Hosted by reporter Sarah Koenig at WBEZ, the podcast Serial debuted in 2014. Developed with Julie Snyder, each season explores a single true story across episodic chapters.

WBEZ released the initial season in October 2014 to examine the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee in Baltimore. Koenig reviewed police files and trial transcripts that led to a life sentence for Adnan Syed. Listeners downloaded the episodes 5 million times by November 2014, setting a speed record on the Apple iTunes service. In April 2015, the Peabody Awards honored the podcast with an award, marking the first time any podcast won the prize. The reporting also secured a duPont-Columbia University Award in 2015.

The second season appeared in December 2015, centering on Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. A third season premiered in September 2018, shifting attention to ordinary court proceedings inside the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland, Ohio. By September 2018, cumulative global downloads surpassed 340 million across the catalog. A fourth season began in March 2024 to document the history of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp through interviews with military personnel and former prisoners.

In July 2020, The New York Times Company purchased Serial Productions for $25 million. The company released spin-off podcasts, including S-Town in 2017, Nice White Parents in 2020, and The Trojan Horse Affair in 2022. Koenig and Snyder also spoke across theater stages during a multi-city live tour in 2015. In television, HBO aired a four-part documentary series titled The Case Against Adnan Syed in March 2019. A Maryland state judge vacated the murder conviction in September 2022, and city prosecutors dropped all remaining charges in October 2022.