Spotify says its platform is the place for established video creators to tap a new audience

Next month, Spotify will revamp creator monetization for video podcasters with the launch of its Spotify Partner Program. Once the program debuts, podcasters whose shows include video content will get access to two monetization streams: first, a cut of ad revenue generated by free-tier Spotify users who watch their shows; and second, a new performance-based “Premium Video Revenue,” which awards payouts based on how many Spotify Premium subscribers tune in.

Spotify has spent the past several years investing in both acquiring podcasts with an established video component, like The Joe Rogan Experience, and in encouraging audio-only podcast creators to embrace adding video to their shows. It’s gotten results for its efforts: There are now more than 300,000 video podcasts on Spotify’s platform, and more than 250 million users have watched them.

Ahead of the new Partner Program’s launch, Spotify is highlighting creators who’ve already seen success in one of its biggest areas of growth: video podcasts. And one of those creators is longtime YouTuber and actress Emily Fan, with her podcast Much to discuss…!.

Like Jared Bailey and Zach Justice of the Dropouts podcast, which we wrote about last month, Fan got her start on YouTube. After uploading long-form variety content to her channel Not Even Emily for seven years, decided to parlay her comedy and acting skills into a podcast that (as Spotify puts it) is “equal parts sketch comedy, commentary, and chit-chat,” tackling “the absurdities of modern life, questionable social trends, and those ‘huh?’ moments we all experience but rarely discuss.”

Unlike Dropouts, Much to discuss…! didn’t debut on YouTube. Instead, Fan distributed it as an audio-only show on Spotify and other listening platforms like Apple Podcasts. But then, in May 2024, she used Spotify to add video.

She was initially worried that uploading video content on a new platform would split her established audience and impact her viewership on YouTube. Instead, she says, Spotify video let her grow her overall viewership.

“I was excited to see that adding this video content on Spotify didn’t detract from my views or audience engagement on other platforms,” she said. “This was a new opportunity to find a new audience.”

“Most” of her Spotify audience members are Gen Z, the platform says. That’s something it likes to see, because 57% of Spotify’s Gen Z users watch video podcasts in the foreground, instead of minimizing them or letting them play in the background—and that’s good for selling video ads.

While Fan is focused on developing video for Much to discuss…!, she says she believes the show is doing well because it has “aspects of both watchable and listenable content,” so it appeals to the ever-growing segment of video podcast consumers, but also to those who prefer the original, audio-only, radio-style podcast experience.

“[A]lthough I do post a lot of sketch comedy, I have other videos that you could listen to just audio-only,” she said. “I think having the sketch portion makes it a lot more appealing for watching so that you can see facial expressions and you can see exactly who’s talking.”

Spotify says Fan’s success with adding video on its platform shows that “video creators who cut their teeth outside of Spotify don’t have to worry about losing their established audiences.”

“Adding video to their feed actually has the opposite effect—it contributes to even more growth, reaching the people who prefer to consume their favorite shows on Spotify,” it says.

As Spotify gears up to drop its revamped creator resources in January, it plans to release more case studies like this one showing how video is boosting podcasters. You can check them all out at the Spotify for Creators hub.

Spotify is a Tubefilter partner.