Spotify Invites All Podcasters To Upload Videos

In an attempt to boost the prevalence of video content on its music streaming platform, Spotify has rolled out a new feature that allows all podcasters, including those not hosted by the company, to upload video versions of their programs. 

Until now, podcasters who weren’t officially hosted on Spotify’s free platform for podcast creators, or with a partner hosting company, were barred from uploading video podcasts to the app. But to upload video content, all creators can now access the Spotify for Podcasters portal, find the audio-only version of their podcast episode, click the three dots in the right-hand corner and choose to add a video version. 

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By allowing all podcasters to represent their content through video, Spotify is positioning themselves to better compete with YouTube, where video podcasting has become a very popular medium over the past year. 

Spotify introduced three new video features in 2023, including video podcasts, and it has made a significant mpact on user behavior. Currently, there are over 170 million global users watching video podcasts on Spotify, with the number of monthly active users watching video podcasts growing 48% year-over-year.

According to Ann Piper, Spotify’s Head of Sales, the platform hosts over 2.5 million video podcast episodes and over 500,000 video podcast episodes have been uploaded since the start of 2024. 

“We are at this inflection point,” said Piper at the company’s NewFronts presentation in May, “where users are viewing more and more content visually as well as video.”

The increase in video content is pushing the company to compete for more than audio budgets in the digital advertising pool. “We want to connect brands with users when they are looking at their screen,” Piper added.

With regard to the new feature, Spotify’s Vice President of Podcast Product Maya Prohovnik reiterated that video is “becoming core to the global Spotify experience,” and that “the appetite for video content has increased immensely” across all of the platform’s major content categories.

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