More than one-third of Spotify’s top podcasts in 2024 were published in a video format. YouTube also benefited from the video podcasting boom, leapfrogging Spotify to become the preferred podcast streaming platform.
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.
Tangent
Several video podcasters made waves in the 2024 election by interviewing presidential candidates on their shows—which helped them rack up huge views on YouTube.
Joe Rogan interviewed (and later endorsed) President-elect Donald Trump less than two weeks before the election. Rogan’s three-hour conversation with Trump quickly racked up a massive 53 million views, becoming his second-most-watched video on YouTube. Rogan’s interview with Vice President-elect JD Vance accumulated 18 million views on YouTube. His conversation with billionaire Elon Musk, one day before election day, in which Musk talked up his support for Trump, garnered 19 million views.
Theo Von’s hour-long interview with Trump has 15 million YouTube views. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on multiple video podcasts, though they garnered fewer YouTube views: Harris’ “Club Shay Shay” interview has 1.6 million views, while her “Call Her Daddy” interview has just under 1 million.
Who scored the most lucrative podcast deals this year?
Some of the world’s biggest podcasters struck nine-figure deals with streaming platforms to host their shows. Rogan, who has for years hosted the world’s most popular podcast, renewed his multi-year deal with Spotify for a reported $250 million in February. Unlike Rogan’s previous agreements with Spotify, the deal does not require his show to be exclusive to the platform, as Spotify has pivoted away from exclusivity agreements with podcasters so they can grow their audiences across multiple platforms.
SiriusXM acquired Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” in a reported $100 million deal, giving the broadcasting company exclusive ad and distribution rights to Cooper’s show, which has ranked as the second-biggest podcast on Spotify for several years. Football stars and brothers Jason and Travis Kelce scored a $100 million deal with Amazon’s podcast service Wondery, which also acquired Dax Shepherd’s “Armchair Expert” show for $80 million.
Top podcasts of 2024 so far on all platforms, according to Edison research
These podcasts are the most listened-to in the first three quarters of 2024 regardless of streaming platform, according to data shared with Forbes by Edison Research, which polled more than 15,000 weekly podcast consumers.
- “The Joe Rogan Experience”
- “Crime Junkie”
- “The Daily”
- “Call Her Daddy”
- “Dateline NBC”
- “SmartLess”
- “Stuff You Should Know”
- “This American Life”
- “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von”
- “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce”
This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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