Spotify, the streaming and podcast giant, is making a big leap into the video podcast world with this new incorporation in its platform. For years, many podcasters have uploaded video versions of their programs primarily on YouTube – and today, that changes.
Although it was thought that the era of the podcast had been coming to an end, they have started to re-gain relevance starting about a year ago. Clearly this has become such a popular re-growth that Spotify wants to maximize its potential. Now, premium and free users can listen and watch a podcast on the platform.
Although users can see this type of content, as for the creators, Spotify has currently only enabled it for a small group of podcasters. Only these users will be able to upload their programs with video content – for now. The streaming service has indicated that once it’s certain that the tool has been received favorably by users, it will extend it to all content creators on the platform.
Seven podcasts are available on Spotify, including Higher Learning With Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay, Fantasy Footballers, and Book of Basketball 2.0. It will also include footage of podcasters recording their programs.
An Opportunity for Engagement and Competition
With this move, Spotify is making itself a destination for all podcast content, including video footage. Previously, only streamed podcast audio was available. According to the company, these creators will be able to grow their audience. At the same time, they will have no impediments to continue sharing their content on YouTube.
“Many podcast fans love watching their favorite podcasts as much as they enjoy listening to them. Through these visuals, fans can get to know their favorite podcast hosts even better, and creators can more deeply connect with their audiences”
Spotify statement
But its big advantage, unlike YouTube, is all users will be able to leave the video in the background. They can listen uninterruptedly to their audio while doing other things with their devices, whether mobile or desktop.
Spotify has more than 285 million monthly users on its platform. The company started as a music streaming service but has been steadily making more investments in the podcast space and now also video content. With this movement, the platform is globally expanding on this idea that it that they’ve been testing since last May and June.
