Podcasts - to Video or Not to Video?

Video can help with podcast growth, but we might be losing something.

Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

At some podcast-focused events that I’ve been to recently, much of the talk has been about… video. Something we have generally considered an audio format is now becoming multimedia. 

There are very good reasons for this, mostly around discovery. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, so of course it is important to have your content on there. I post audiograms of each show on The Addition YouTube channel for this reason. Google, the number one search engine, flags up YouTube videos too, adding to the reasons to make your show available there. 

Similarly, if you have video footage of your show, sharing clips on short-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube shorts is a great way for people to discover your podcast. There is, however, a question of how much this all converts to creating an actual listener/viewer. A personal example - I’ve seen, and enjoyed, loads of content from “Help I Sexted My Boss” on TikTok, but I’ve never listened to an episode. I have started making such clips for the “TV+ Talk” show that I do with Chuck Joiner - why wouldn’t I put the content I’ve made to greater use, particularly as that is designed to be published as video as well as audio? It gives more exposure but does not necessarily lead to more long-term fans for the show.

This subject was covered in the recent Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023. (I covered another aspect of it last week.) In the section on podcasting, author Nic Newman highlighted “the growing importance of video podcasts – partly due to the extra reach and revenue that YouTube provides, though also because video promotion tends to be more effective in attracting attention via social media.” Indeed, the research showed that YouTube is the number one podcast platform in the US ahead of Spotify. Thirty-one percent of US respondents consumed podcasts on YouTube with 24% using Spotify.