Video Podcasts
Trevor L Taylor hosts Hard Truths for a Soft World, a podcast that turns systematic thinking on technology, comfort, attention and connection. Shows of every kind now operate in a period when video increasingly defines what the word podcast means. A video podcast is a recorded conversation or program released as video, usually with cameras on the hosts and guests, and often published alongside an audio version of the same episode. What began as a sideline for a few shows on YouTube has become central to how audiences find podcasts and how companies invest in them.
How video took over podcast listening
The scale of the shift shows up in survey data. Edison Research’s Infinite Dial report found in 2025 that 51 percent of Americans 12 and older had watched a podcast1, compared with 70 percent who had listened to one, and that 48 percent had done both. Counting either format, podcast reach rose to 73 percent of that population, an estimated 210 million people. Video, in other words, mostly added to the audience rather than replacing it.
The definition of the medium moved with the habit. In its review of the year, Edison reported that 52 percent of Americans 12 and older consider YouTube only discussion videos to be podcasts2, even when those videos have no audio feed at all, and that YouTube was the platform Gen Z weekly listeners used most. A filmed chat show uploaded to a video site now counts as a podcast in the minds of most of its audience.
YouTube itself made the point with a milestone. The company said in early 2025 that it had passed 1 billion monthly podcast users3, called itself the most frequently used service for podcasts in the United States, and reported that viewers had watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts a month on living room devices the previous year. That last figure matters: video podcasts are increasingly watched on television screens, competing with conventional programming rather than only with radio.
The groundwork was laid years earlier by a few large shows. Tubefilter noted that Joe Rogan had been uploading full episodes of his show to YouTube since 20134, building millions of subscribers, before Spotify signed the show to an exclusive deal in 2020 that covered video as well as audio. That agreement signaled that a streaming company saw filmed conversation as a product worth paying for, not just a promotional extra.
Spotify then built a business model around it. TechCrunch reported in late 2024 that Spotify would begin paying podcast hosts based on how their videos perform5, through a Partner Program that took effect in January 2025 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, alongside new video features such as chapters and comments. A month after launch, Tubefilter relayed Spotify’s report that video consumption on the platform had risen 20 percent6.
Television companies followed. Axios reported that Netflix would begin carrying a curated selection of Spotify video podcasts in early 20267, including shows from The Ringer, and noted that Amazon had added a popular sports podcast to Prime Video while SiriusXM signed shows with strong video versions. Even traditional publishers adapted. Digiday described how The New York Times began filming episodes of shows such as Hard Fork and Popcast for YouTube8 in new studios, and testing video inside its own audio app, as a way to help listeners discover shows.
The latest figures confirm the direction. Net Influencer, summarizing Edison’s newest data, reported that 58 percent of Americans 12 and older listened to or watched a podcast in the past month9, a record, and that 39 percent of weekly podcast consumers said they most often use YouTube, against 20 percent for Spotify and 11 percent for Apple Podcasts. The same summary put the share who only watched at 7 percent, against 15 percent who only listened, which suggests the two formats mostly reach the same people in different settings.
What video changes for shows and audiences
Video changes production first. An audio podcast needs microphones and a quiet room. A video podcast needs cameras, lighting, a set that looks good on screen and an editor who can cut between angles. Those costs favor larger producers and push smaller shows toward simpler setups, such as a single fixed camera or a filmed version of a remote call.
It changes discovery. Audio podcasts have long struggled with being found, because a listener has to choose a show before hearing it. Video platforms recommend clips and full episodes to viewers who were not looking for a podcast at all, and short excerpts circulate on social feeds. The Times experiment described by Digiday was built on exactly that logic: pictures and video help people find shows they would not otherwise try.
It changes the economics. Video earns money through platform advertising and programs such as Spotify’s, in addition to the host read audio advertisements that sustained the medium for years. Licensing deals with streaming and television services add another source of revenue for the largest shows.
It changes measurement. Audio downloads are counted from server logs when a file is requested, while video platforms report views and watch time inside their own systems. The two are not directly comparable, which complicates efforts to rank shows across formats. The entry on podcast audience measurement explains the audio side.
It also raises a question about openness. Dave Winer, the creator of RSS, warned in remarks quoted by Sounds Profitable that the word podcast is coming to mean video interviews on YouTube10, and urged developers to improve the open feed so creators keep a choice. Most video podcasts are uploaded directly to a platform rather than distributed by feed, so a show that lives only on one service depends on that service’s rules and recommendations.
For audiences the change is mostly additive. People can watch a conversation on a television, listen to the same episode during a commute, or catch a clip on a phone. Shows that offer both formats reach the widest audience, and the audio feed remains the fallback that works in any app. Video podcasts widened the medium without abandoning the open audio file at its core, and for any show that file is still the most direct line to listeners.
