YouTube and Spotify have been duking it out in the podcast space for years, with YouTube just this morning declaring it’s the #1 spot for U.S. listeners to find podcasts. But as the podcast industry has grown, both companies have become interested in its next frontier: video podcasts.
YouTube is the biggest home for video on the internet, so naturally sees plenty of podcasters (many of whom started as YouTubers) uploading their shows to its platform. Spotify, meanwhile, has signed major content deals with shows like The Joe Rogan Experience, and recently ran a campaign highlighting creators who’ve seen success with video podcasts on its platform.
Now, a new challenger may be entering the ring.
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Netflix.
According to four people familiar with the matter who spoke to Business Insider, Netflix is exploring potential video deals with podcasters. This interest is spurred by YouTube’s consistent rise to not just podcast, but TV dominance (again, as CEO Neal Mohan mentioned in this morning’s letter to users).
Netflix wants to know what the secret sauce is there, and thinks (correctly) that it might be content creators. So, it wants video deals with them.
It reportedly wanted to throw its hat in the ring when Alex Cooper was shopping around for a distributor for her Unwell network. She ended up at SiriusXM for a $125 million deal instead (and it’s worth noting Unwell recently announced it plans to only distribute video episodes of its shows on YouTube instead of both YouTube and Spotify).
This report also tracks considering Netflix has done some deals with YouTube creators, like The Sidemen and Ms. Rachel. Not to mention the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight, which drove record new account signups. Netflix also poaching non-podcast shows that started on YouTube, like The Amazing Digital Circus.
However, as Business Insider points out, Netflix’s past attempts at talk shows (the closest it’s gotten to video podcasts) didn’t last very long, and were mostly helmed by well-known comedians.
Netflix execs were reportedly put off the idea of podcasting by those experiences, but are now warming up again, BI writes.
“More recently they are exploring: Is this doable? Which one would make sense for us? They ask about specific names,” a person familiar with the matter said. “It’s a way to get an amazing volume of content at a fraction of what they pay for scripted and unscripted budgets.”
The cost-effectiveness is apparently a big draw for Netflix. Other people familiar with the matter said creators’ and podcasters’ self-adherence to regular release schedules is an attractive asset, too.
But even though Netflix is chasing YouTube’s heels here, it might be trying to bring something unique to the party. Sources told Business Insider that when Netflix was pursuing Cooper and Unwell, it wanted to create original TV shows with her at the center–something similar to Smartless: On The Road, a TV show based on Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes‘ podcast of the same name.
That means even if Netflix didn’t sign creators for exclusive video podcast rights–which is likely, if creators already have established video audiences on YouTube and/or Spotify–it would still have an exclusive component. One that creators’ audiences might be willing to pay to access.
Now, all that being said, the sources who spoke to Business Insider said they don’t think Netflix will challenge YouTube for the video podcast crown anytime soon. And we don’t either. YouTube is simply too far ahead, and Netflix obviously isn’t going to redirect its entire business model to focus on digital content creators and video podcasts.
But we can see it picking up some creator-led podcast deals over the next year, and using those deals to launch a new subsection of its ever-more-pricey streaming service.
