Podcasts are something for your ears when your eyes are busy. This was Podnews Creator and Editor James Cridland’s closing statement during his keynote at Podcast Movement Evolutions in Chicago, U.S. this week.
Then why is everyone talking about video?
Because as Sound Profitable’s Tom Webster talked about during his keynote on Tuesday, of the estimated 55% of the total U.S. Population (age 12+) that listened or watched a podcast in the last month, 7% reporting watching, but not listening. I repeat, not listening. And that doesn’t include the many who both watch and listen.
If you’re thinking, “that doesn’t seem like a lot.” It never does when something is new. Think about TikTok. Those who thought, “nothing could ever get as large as Instagram,” are probably not the ones who changed their lives by getting in early on the game-changing social media app.
According to Podtrac data, in a study based on 1.5b global downloads, Apple Podcast has 37.4% of the share of downloads+views in the U.S. YouTube has the second largest share with 23.2%, then Spotify 15.2%, iHeartRadio 4.5%, Alexa 2.9%, Overcast 2.3%, Amazon Music 1.6%, Dalvik 1.6%, Chrome 1.4%, Pocket Casts 1.3%… you get the point. (Side note: Don’t forget that many people listen to podcasts on apps other than Apple Podcasts and Spotify.)
Of the top 250 U.S. podcasts, 50.6% are releasing full video on YouTube and 16.5% are releasing audio-only on YouTube.
Like it or not, video is where the podcast industry is going. The big players are making sure of that.
“Video Village” at Evolutions was sponsored by YouTube. Spotify changed Spotify for Podcasters to Spotify for Creators and incorporated many more growth and monetization tools to support video creators. Tools are popping up left and right to aggregate video views and traditional podcast downloads. The list goes on.
James Cridland even announced his prediction of there being more live podcasts, a service The Podcast Guys has been offering its brand clients for years.
Speaking of brands: As Alia Smith, Associate Manager of Boll & Branch, (a luxury bedding brand), said on her panel, “How Brands are ScoringBig with Audio and Video,” visuals add value for a brand and helps a listeners remember a brand later. When you have a video component, you help your listeners/watchers stay even more engaged with your brand.
I understand that if you’re associated with a brand outside of the podcast space who has a podcast or wants to start one (or two, or three), keeping up with the podcast industry to ensure ROI for your show(s) may not fit into your busy schedule.
Written by:
Catrin Skaperdas
Podcast Development Director, The Podcast Guys
