Spotify quietly lets all podcasters upload videos, surpasses 250K shows

Spotify is now letting non-hosted podcasters upload videos to the platform. The company quietly rolled out the new feature last week, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

Previously, creators who wanted to upload video podcasts to Spotify were required to sign up to be hosted on Spotify for Podcasters, a free platform for podcast creators, or with a partner hosting company. Creators could also separate their video feeds from audio, but this isn’t ideal as it uploads as two episodes. Now, any creator can upload directly to Spotify using their preferred podcast hosting service.

To use the new feature, creators should navigate to the Spotify for Podcasters portal, locate the audio-only version of a podcast episode and click the three dots on the right to add a video version. The rollout was first reported by Podnews. 

Spotify has been focusing more on video podcasts in recent years, which seems to be paying off. The platform now has more than 250,000 video podcasts, up from 100,000 in 2023. 

The company shared this new number with TechCrunch ahead of Vidcon next week, along with other stats around video usage on its platform. For instance, there are more than 170 million global users watching video podcasts on Spotify, and the number of monthly active users watching video podcasts has grown by 40% year-over-year. Additionally, the platform recorded a bigger increase in video consumption hours compared to audio-only consumption hours in the same period.

“Video is becoming core to the global Spotify experience,” Maya Prohovnik, Spotify’s vice president of podcast product, said in a prepared statement. “With the number of podcasters publishing videos on our platform growing nearly 70% over the past year, it’s clear that video podcasts are resonating with users, and the appetite for video content has increased immensely across all of our major content categories on Spotify.” 

Spotify has introduced other features to enhance the video podcast experience for creators and listeners, such as “Miniplayer,” which allows Premium subscribers to watch videos in a smaller desktop window on top of other windows. 

Overall, the company is increasing its investment in video content. In March, Spotify said that it was adding music videos to select countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden, and the U.K. The company is also testing a video education offering in the U.K. that features courses surrounding subjects like music production.