Video podcasts blew up in 2024, making up a bigger share of Spotify’s top podcasts this year compared with 2023, according to data provided to Forbes by Spotify, while YouTube has also grown to become one of the dominant listening services for podcast fans this year as they look to better connect with their favorite hosts.
KEY FACTS
More than one-third of Spotify’s top podcasts in 2024 were published in a video format, which allows viewers to watch hosts and their guests have conversations instead of just listening to the audio
That figure is up from one in seven in 2023, and popular video podcasts include Spotify’s top two podcasts, “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Call Her Daddy.”
Spotify reported a 140% increase in the number of video podcasts in its top 50 U.S. podcasts list in 2024 compared to 2023.
Spotify now hosts more than 300,000 video podcast shows, and the number of creators publishing videos on a monthly basis increased 50% year-over-year, Spotify said.
More than 250 million Spotify users have streamed a video podcast, and two-thirds of its users who consume podcasts say they prefer video podcasts instead of just audio, the streaming platform says.
YouTube also benefited from the video podcasting boom, leapfrogging Spotify to become the preferred podcast streaming platform this year: 30% of users surveyed by Edison Research in the first three quarters of 2024 say YouTube is their preferred platform for podcast streaming, just edging out Spotify, which was the preferred platform by 29% of respondents.
WHY ARE VIDEO PODCASTS GETTING SO BIG?
Edison Research found about 84% of monthly podcast listeners consume podcasts with video, and about 71% actively watch the podcast while listening. Nearly half of those who actively watch video podcasts said they can better connect with the podcasters and understand their tone through facial expressions and gestures. Both Spotify and YouTube have reacted to the boom in video podcasts.
“It’s becoming all about video,” Spotify CEO David Ek told the Wall Street Journal. To compete with YouTube, Spotify plans to pay podcasters whose video content reaches a certain view threshold, and it plans to offer premium subscribers a way to watch some video podcasts without ads, the Journal reported. Podcasters can also cash in by uploading their content to YouTube, which the Journal reported has a generous payment program for creators.
Source: Forbes
