Should Your Podcast Do Video?

Hey Podcast Fam!

I’ve been engaged in some serious podcasting debate this week and I thought I’d clue you in.

And that’s the popular question of “does your podcast need video?”

And here’s the short answer: No.

In fact there are plenty of shows that are extremely successful that don’t utilize video.

One of the most popular shows we produce does over 50,000 downloads a week without ever doing any video. So don’t feel like you HAVE to do video. But that show has been around for years, was one of the first marketing podcasts on Apple, was launched to a rather large email list. That shot it into the charts and the show has stayed there since.

So let me give a disclaimer:

DOING VIDEO IS A LOT OF WORK

I don’t want to pretend that it’s not. In fact, there would be no way that I could do video on my own show as a solo podcaster. I just don’t have the time and/or skill to be able to do it effectively. Thankfully I have an amazing team who do have the skills to make it happen.

But that doesn’t mean that your show SHOULD’T incorporate video if you can manage it. There are a ton of courses and free/low-cost programs that you can start using to do it. Because even though you don’t HAVE to do video, there are some serious reasons why you might want to consider it.

The first reason is a BIGGER AUDIENCE.

Unfortunately, podcasters can’t rely on Apple or Spotify right now to connect them with their audience. There are some smaller listening apps that are trying to help with discoverability, but it’s a Coke/Pepsi-kinda thing when it comes to listening platforms. And outside of getting more ratings and reviews, there’s no repeatable system for growing on these apps.

However there is a small window for creators where there is a larger demand for video - specifically for short, vertical videos - than there is a supply of it. Platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram have realized the demand for these short “Tik Tok-like” videos, and that creates an opportunity for creators to take advantage of the organic reach.

Like pictures on Instagram in the mid 2010s, short form videos are driving engagement and attention on social media platforms and the algorithms are rewarding creators who can publish engaging content.

THIS MEANS THAT YOU CAN REACH NEW LISTENERS FOR FREE!

Note: You don’t have to recreate your whole podcast for video. You might just consider incorporating video into your promotion with short clips.

THE OTHER REASON IS MONETIZATION

This isn’t all about YouTube, but they just launched a dedicated podcast page and also announced their plans to allow creators to monetize shorts. This sort of investment and belief from a big tech company creates a great opportunity for creators. Just like the shows that were early on Facebook, early-movers on YouTube will be able to grow their audience similarly. It seems likely that as Apple loses more and more market share to YouTube and Spotify, they’re going to be forced to add video or simply bow out of the race.

But podcasters can also leverage video to monetize their show in other ways. In addition to the revenue coming directly from Google, creators can improve their sponsorships, partnerships, and brand activations by having a varied platform. By combining the reach of your podcast and video channels, you can increase your attractiveness to brands and businesses.

Yes, having a podcast is attractive to brands. But having a platform where you can activate your audience in a variety of ways is way more attractive.

So once again, I’ll repeat it. Do you NEED to have video to be successful?

Absolutely not.

But it might help!

Hector Santiesteban

Host of 'Marketing Your Podcast'