Spotify Video Podcasting Tools Expand To More Creators Worldwide

According to the latest news, Spotify is expanding its video podcasting capabilities to creators in more than 180 markets globally. It means the functionality will now be available in nearly all the markets where Spotify’s podcast creation software, Anchor, is currently available. The Spotify Video Podcasting tools first entered wider testing last year, then they were officially launched in April to a handful of key markets, including the U.S. The company then rolled out it to half a dozen more countries this summer, including parts of Europe.

Spotify Video Podcasting Tools Now Expanding To More Creators

The move will definitely put the music streamer in closer competition with YouTube, where video podcasts have been growing in popularity. YouTube hired a podcast executive, Kai Chuk, in order to lead its efforts in the space last year. It was said that Youtube was offering cash to popular podcasters to film their shows. In August, YouTube took another big step into this space with the launch of a dedicated podcast homepage in the U.S. Both companies try to compete with each other that’s why Spotify is happy to talk about the expansion of its video recording functionality. The company will not share any sort of metrics about the traction its video podcasts are seeing right now either in terms of creation or viewership. Moreover, the company only responded to our inquiries by stating that it’s “excited about the growth”

The point worth mentioning here is that the adoption of video podcasts on Spotify has included both Spotify Originals and other shows, including “Call Her Daddy”, “Diary of a CEO” and the “Always Sunny Podcast.”

Spotify also did not confirm if its video podcasts have managed to increase the time users spent directly watching the shows on their phones or laptop.  However, the company noticed that creators don’t necessarily have to switch to video entirely to leverage the new format. On the other hand, they can choose to diversify their content types by publishing some visual episodes together with their traditional audio podcasts.

The music streamer Spotify has been heavily focusing on podcasting, video, and non-video alike, after spending more than $1 billion on podcast-related acquisitions. During Spotify’s 2022 investor day event, CEO Daniel Ek stated that while the company is still in investment mode for podcasts, it believes the vertical has the capability for a 40-50% gross margin.

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