Spotify Can Now Play Your Podcast’s Video: How Does It Work and What It Means

Danny Brown noticed that the feature is gradually being rolled out to more shows and has made a video to talk you through this process.

Step 1: Go to Spotify for Podcasters

If you’re an existing user, log in to your dashboard. 

Step 2: Pick an episode 

If there are three dots at the far right of your episode list, click on them to bring up the options of adding video. It should be as simple as adding an MP4 or Mov file.  

Step 3: Manage Your Feed

Once the upload is complete, you can view the video alongside your audio-only eps. Your video will be accessible just like the audio content of your other shows and can be managed as such, too. 

Step 4: Set Your Preferences 

Listeners will be able to choose how they consume your content – either through audio or video, but it’s important to know that if they listen, they’ll now be listening to the audio of your video – and not the audio you provide through RSS.

What are the benefits of going to video?

1. 1. You may see a spike in engagement

Video tends to have a higher engagement rates than audio. You can connect with your viewers and be able to use visuals like infographics, animation, maps or whatever else it is you choose to make your show more engaging.

2. 2. You could be one of the first to use this feature

Currently, there are only a few podcasts that are available in a video format on Spotify! Early adopters of new technology and features tend to stand out in people’s memories – so establish your video presence now while you are still one of the first. 

3. 3. It is simply more convenient

Instead of jumping between different platforms, video podcasts can now sit within just one app – simple! Those who prefer video will also be able to have access to your audio-only backlist which is a huge plus. 

But what are the disadvantages?

There is one big disadvantage to this tech and it concerns your ad revenue. When you upload a video, the audio track from it replaces the audio that they get from your RSS feed. So if you have programmatic audio ads in your regular RSS feed this will no longer be heard by Spotify listeners. This of course doesn’t concern any baked-in host reads that you might have in your show but if they are programmatic – you are looking at trouble. 

In our eyes, this is definitely something you should be trying out with your show (especially if ads for you are not an issue). But, if your show relies solely on programmatic ad revenue to bring in funding, you might need to think twice. We love a new feature on a podcast platform, so we are excited to see how this develops and how others adopt it to work for them.

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