Spotify users in 12 countries can now add a visual component to the audio shows they upload. The platform has announced a worldwide expansion of its support for video podcasts, which it facilitates through its subsidiary Anchor. After enabling video programming for podcasters in the U.S., U..K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand starting last year, Spotify is now encouraging creators in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico to start uploading.
The news of Spotify’s video podcast expansion was revealed in a post on the company’s For the Record blog. “These are markets with especially strong podcast creator communities that have shown a healthy appetite for new ways to create and experience podcasts,” the post reads. “Video-native podcasters will now have access to Spotify’s audience around the world, while audio-native podcasters will be able to start experimenting with video and deliver content that their listeners can engage with more deeply.”
The post calls video podcasts an “underutilized medium,” but those multimedia programs are growing in popularity, especially on platforms like YouTube. During a recent panel, podcast hosts and execs from Rooster Teeth noted that many young consumers don’t see video podcasts as fundamentally different from their audio-only counterparts. At the same time, a majority of podcast fans prefer having a video component to watch, according to a recent study that discussed YouTube’s growing status in the audio world.
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Spotify’s video podcasting capabilities first rolled out on specific shows, such as the platform’s blockbuster hit The Joe Rogan Experience. A wide rollout arrived last year, with U.S.-based podcasters among the first to get their hands on the function. Video podcasting expanded this past April, and the latest launch covers a number of media-hungry nations. Spotify didn’t specify whether it plans to bring video podcasting to more nations in the future.
Video podcasting on Spotify runs through Anchor, a platform owned-and-operated by the Swedish streamer. Spotify acquired Anchor in 2019.
