San Francisco Frontiers - Video podcasts become next streaming battleground

Roman Wasenmüller, the head of podcasts at Spotify, said that the development "marks a new chapter for podcasting," as he announced a partnership with Netflix in mid-October.

Google-owned YouTube is now the leading destination for podcasts in the United States, with 33 percent market share according to Edison Research, and more than one billion consumers worldwide.

YouTube even offers audio show producers the ability to generate video using artificial intelligence to better illustrate their show on the platform.

Spotify is now moving in, and by the end of September, 390 million users of the Swedish streaming service had watched at least one video-version of a podcast.

"Podcasting is correctly seen as a medium that is growing in usage considerably faster than a lot of legacy media, and that's attractive to investors," said Martin Spinelli, a podcasting professor at the University of Sussex.

- Connect with Gen Z -

The rise of the podcast is particularly pronounced among young people, noted Yoram Wurmser, an analyst at Emarketer.

"Gen Z are heavy podcast listeners and viewers, so it's good to connect with them" as much as possible, Wurmser said.

Donald Trump's podcast tour during his US presidential campaign helped increase his popularity among young adults.

Democrat Zohran Mamdani, recently elected mayor of New York, also gave significant attention to podcasters.

A latecomer to this space, Netflix has already announced the release, in early 2026, of a dozen programs licensed from Spotify.

But according to Business Insider, Netflix aims to quickly offer more than 50 and eventually up to 200 in total that will include new productions made for Netflix.

TikTok announced Monday a collaboration with American radio giant iHeartMedia, aimed at launching up to 25 programs hosted by influencers.

"We're combining our vast networks to deliver relevant content on a massive scale," said Rich Bressler, iHeartMedia's number two. "It's a win for creators, fans, and brands alike."

TikTok will not broadcast entire episodes but excerpts, similar to what most successful podcasts already make available, some garnering several million views each time.

The Chinese-owned social network doesn't produce its own videos, any more than YouTube does, but Martin Spinelli expects streaming services to "amplify the content that they've already monetized" using podcasts.

Even before launching its offensive, Netflix had already produced audio extras for several of its hit series, from "The Crown" to "Heartstopper."

Disney has also heavily invested in this niche and announced in early September the arrival of podcasts spun off from series like "Only Murders in the Building" and "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives."

For existing podcasts, access to new audiences using video should increase revenues, said Emarketer's Wurmser, whether through advertising, subscriptions or merchandise.

Spinelli sees it as a victory for independent podcasts, which "will be able to expand their audience."

"It's much easier to find" a podcast based on its content "on YouTube than on Apple Podcasts," said Spinelli, who himself hosts the program "For Your Ears Only," "and I think it will be the same for Netflix and TikTok."

C.Diaz--SFF