Spotify is now letting non-hosted podcasters add movies to the platform. The corporate quietly rolled out the new function final week, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.
Beforehand, creators who wished to add video podcasts to Spotify had been required to enroll to be hosted on Spotify for Podcasters, a free platform for podcast creators, or with a companion internet hosting firm. Creators might additionally separate their video feeds from audio, however this isn’t ideally suited because it uploads as two episodes. Now, any creator can add on to Spotify utilizing their most well-liked podcast internet hosting service.
To make use of the brand new function, creators ought to navigate to the Spotify for Podcasters portal, find the audio-only model of a podcast episode and click on the three dots on the precise so as to add a video model. The rollout was first reported by Podnews.
Spotify has been focusing extra on video podcasts in recent times, which appears to be paying off. The platform now has greater than 250,000 video podcasts, up from 100,000 in 2023.
The corporate shared this new quantity with TechCrunch forward of Vidcon subsequent week, together with different stats round video utilization on its platform. As an example, there are greater than 170 million international customers watching video podcasts on Spotify, and the variety of month-to-month energetic customers watching video podcasts has grown by 40% year-over-year. Moreover, the platform recorded an even bigger enhance in video consumption hours in comparison with audio-only consumption hours in the identical interval.
“Video is turning into core to the worldwide Spotify expertise,” Maya Prohovnik, Spotify’s vp of podcast product, stated in a ready assertion. “With the variety of podcasters publishing movies on our platform rising 70% over the previous yr, it’s clear that video podcasts are resonating with customers, and the urge for food for video content material has elevated immensely throughout all of our main content material classes on Spotify.”
Spotify has launched different options to reinforce the video podcast expertise for creators and listeners, similar to “Miniplayer,” which permits Premium subscribers to observe movies in a smaller desktop window on prime of different home windows.
General, the corporate is growing its funding in video content material. In March, Spotify stated that it was including music movies to pick international locations, together with Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden, and the U.Ok. The corporate can also be testing a video training providing within the U.Ok. that options programs surrounding topics like music manufacturing.
