The Future. Video podcasts are blowing up in popularity among Gen Zers, especially on YouTube. That’s forced creators of what’s typically been a cheaper-to-produce form of media to spend more getting camera-ready. But with the ability to charge more for advertising — and YouTube potentially showing more ads — the podcasting industry may soon see supercharged revenue growth.

Audio for your eyesYouTube is revolutionizing podcasts… by popularizing vodcasts (video podcasts).

  • Edison Researchfound that 16 of the top 30 podcasts last year offered their shows as videos — up from only seven of the top 30 in 2021.

  • Many new, high-profile shows, like Power User and What Now? with Trevor Noah, debuted video versions of their podcasts right from the get-go.

  • That shift happened as YouTube became the top place for podcast consumption, per NYT, with the platform now holding 28% of the market share.

  • And YouTube is making sure it keeps the crown, rolling out a ton of new features that help creators share podcasts and listeners discover new shows.

Long-running interview podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend have been racking up millions of views with video podcasts for years. Joe Rogan even went non-exclusive with Spotify, presumably because his YouTube viewership is so high.

A part of that popularity, as many creators are now discovering, is that audiences like to see people’s body language during interviews. Sometimes, it’s the awkward shift before answering a question that’s the most interesting.

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