Podcasting’s Shift to Video Comes With Pitfalls
When “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper recently announced she was moving her video content from Spotify to YouTube — a departure from having full episodes exclusively available on Spotify from July 2021 to January 2024 — it marked a new escalation in the podcasting arms race between the platforms. Just months earlier, Spotify announced its new revenue-sharing program in a bid to lure podcasters to prioritize video content on the platform.
And while ultimately Cooper’s move had more to do with her being represented by SiriusXM/Pandora and not wanting to promote their competitor Spotify, it did offer a glimpse into the stakes of the podcasting industry’s ongoing embrace of video. Podcasting is no longer solely an audio medium, with one study suggesting that 85% of U.S. listeners have watched a video podcast.
YouTube has been the big winner of this shift so far. Not only is its user base enormous but it’s optimized for podcast shareability. When podcasts are video based, you can clip them and distribute across each of the major video social media platforms to drive awareness and build an audience, similar to distributing a movie trailer to promote a film.
If you want proof of its effectiveness, simply look at the growth in Joe Rogan’s reach since his show’s episode clips returned to YouTube after ending its Spotify exclusivity. That’s the type of discoverability Spotify is now starting to chase.
From a platform expansion perspective, all of this is a good thing. Video is an evolution of podcasting that will boost listenership and help the channel grow. But in fostering that growth, both publishers and advertisers must guard against the TikTokification of podcasting, where a proliferation of short video clips alters one of the most essential qualities of the medium.
STAYING TRUE What can get lost in the shift to video is the power inherent to podcasts: the ability to have a long-form, complex conversation where not everything is reduced to a soundbite or a headline. That’s what has always made podcasting podcasting, as opposed to the appeal of something like TikTok, where the average video length is less than a minute and the watch time per video is between 3 and 5 seconds. By comparison, 76% of podcast listeners are interested in long-form (60-plus minutes) podcasts, and 70% of the audience listens to almost an entire episode.
Podcasting has always been particularly engrossing for listeners, which is probably why it has proven to be so influential, driving sentiment across politics, such as in the recent presidential election, criminal justice and beyond. That uniquely high engagement is also part of why advertisers love the medium and have started packing in 39% more ads since 2021.
But as video podcasting grows and publishers compete, they risk adopting some bad habits. Some may find themselves catering to younger, clip-loving audiences across social media, relying on soundbites to garner attention.
In discussing his just-released book, “The Siren's Call,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes describes the addictive rush of short social content as a “slot machine model” while arguing that the popularity of hours-long podcasts suggests a continued appetite for long-form content.
Podcasting has become a cultural phenomenon because it was a platform for open dialogue without the regulations, censorship or trappings of traditional media. This allowed creators to do deep dives into conversations that could deal with complicated topics in nuanced ways and allow for multiple voices to discuss and debate these issues together. The popularity of short-form promotional clips could shift that balance substantially, with podcasts becoming like a film with a fantastic trailer but a lousy two-hour product.
The push to video complicates things for advertisers, too. Historically, the podcasting industry has recently come to rely on pixel tracking to create a standardized framework that allows brand advertisers to see and compare how ads perform across a range of shows. It isn’t possible to apply pixel-based attribution for host-read ads on YouTube, which means a measurement landscape that already has inherent challenges and gaps would become even more complicated.
For similar reasons, it will be harder to measure brand safety for shows that have both audio and video versions. With the recent dissolution of brand safety org GARM (the Global Alliance for Responsible Media), advertisers were already facing challenges. Further fragmentation in measurement methodologies could make things worse, and less transparency for brands could be toxic to the industry’s efforts to continue growth in revenue and market share.
KEEPING THE BALANCE In the pursuit of growing podcasting through video, it is up to advertisers and publishers to reach new audiences while preserving what makes it special: intimate, long-form conversations that deeply engage audiences. That means publishers should preserve lanes for audio-first content or audio-only content where they can.
But beyond that, brands and buyers must start to demand transparency, working alongside publishers to prioritize standardized measurement options that come from third-party tracking services. We should also be prepared to set aside an advertising budget to support independent creators not beholden to the shifting whims of large platforms, which is in line with the spirit of independence that made podcasting the cultural phenomenon on which so many now capitalize.
Change is inevitable, and I’m confident the podcast industry will adapt to whatever is coming. Video will no doubt help it grow, but we can’t lose sight of what podcasting is at its core: a powerful tool for building trust and intimacy. And as it evolves, let’s not dilute what makes it so valuable for listeners and advertisers.
Dan Granger is CEO of Oxford Road and Veritone One, the world’s largest podcast agency and a market leader in creator-based video advertising, offering unparalleled access to and performance in podcasting, streaming audio, radio and creator-based video channels.
And while ultimately Cooper’s move had more to do with her being represented by SiriusXM/Pandora and not wanting to promote their competitor Spotify, it did offer a glimpse into the stakes of the podcasting industry’s ongoing embrace of video. Podcasting is no longer solely an audio medium, with one study suggesting that 85% of U.S. listeners have watched a video podcast.
YouTube has been the big winner of this shift so far. Not only is its user base enormous but it’s optimized for podcast shareability. When podcasts are video based, you can clip them and distribute across each of the major video social media platforms to drive awareness and build an audience, similar to distributing a movie trailer to promote a film.
If you want proof of its effectiveness, simply look at the growth in Joe Rogan’s reach since his show’s episode clips returned to YouTube after ending its Spotify exclusivity. That’s the type of discoverability Spotify is now starting to chase.
From a platform expansion perspective, all of this is a good thing. Video is an evolution of podcasting that will boost listenership and help the channel grow. But in fostering that growth, both publishers and advertisers must guard against the TikTokification of podcasting, where a proliferation of short video clips alters one of the most essential qualities of the medium.
STAYING TRUE What can get lost in the shift to video is the power inherent to podcasts: the ability to have a long-form, complex conversation where not everything is reduced to a soundbite or a headline. That’s what has always made podcasting podcasting, as opposed to the appeal of something like TikTok, where the average video length is less than a minute and the watch time per video is between 3 and 5 seconds. By comparison, 76% of podcast listeners are interested in long-form (60-plus minutes) podcasts, and 70% of the audience listens to almost an entire episode.
Podcasting has always been particularly engrossing for listeners, which is probably why it has proven to be so influential, driving sentiment across politics, such as in the recent presidential election, criminal justice and beyond. That uniquely high engagement is also part of why advertisers love the medium and have started packing in 39% more ads since 2021.
But as video podcasting grows and publishers compete, they risk adopting some bad habits. Some may find themselves catering to younger, clip-loving audiences across social media, relying on soundbites to garner attention.
In discussing his just-released book, “The Siren's Call,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes describes the addictive rush of short social content as a “slot machine model” while arguing that the popularity of hours-long podcasts suggests a continued appetite for long-form content.
Podcasting has become a cultural phenomenon because it was a platform for open dialogue without the regulations, censorship or trappings of traditional media. This allowed creators to do deep dives into conversations that could deal with complicated topics in nuanced ways and allow for multiple voices to discuss and debate these issues together. The popularity of short-form promotional clips could shift that balance substantially, with podcasts becoming like a film with a fantastic trailer but a lousy two-hour product.
The push to video complicates things for advertisers, too. Historically, the podcasting industry has recently come to rely on pixel tracking to create a standardized framework that allows brand advertisers to see and compare how ads perform across a range of shows. It isn’t possible to apply pixel-based attribution for host-read ads on YouTube, which means a measurement landscape that already has inherent challenges and gaps would become even more complicated.
For similar reasons, it will be harder to measure brand safety for shows that have both audio and video versions. With the recent dissolution of brand safety org GARM (the Global Alliance for Responsible Media), advertisers were already facing challenges. Further fragmentation in measurement methodologies could make things worse, and less transparency for brands could be toxic to the industry’s efforts to continue growth in revenue and market share.
KEEPING THE BALANCE In the pursuit of growing podcasting through video, it is up to advertisers and publishers to reach new audiences while preserving what makes it special: intimate, long-form conversations that deeply engage audiences. That means publishers should preserve lanes for audio-first content or audio-only content where they can.
But beyond that, brands and buyers must start to demand transparency, working alongside publishers to prioritize standardized measurement options that come from third-party tracking services. We should also be prepared to set aside an advertising budget to support independent creators not beholden to the shifting whims of large platforms, which is in line with the spirit of independence that made podcasting the cultural phenomenon on which so many now capitalize.
Change is inevitable, and I’m confident the podcast industry will adapt to whatever is coming. Video will no doubt help it grow, but we can’t lose sight of what podcasting is at its core: a powerful tool for building trust and intimacy. And as it evolves, let’s not dilute what makes it so valuable for listeners and advertisers.
Dan Granger is CEO of Oxford Road and Veritone One, the world’s largest podcast agency and a market leader in creator-based video advertising, offering unparalleled access to and performance in podcasting, streaming audio, radio and creator-based video channels.