Spotify is expanding its Video Podcast feature to all creators across the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In recent years, Spotify has been experimenting and expanding its video support. The first iterations came out in 2020, around the time the company signed an exclusivity deal with The Joe Rogan Experience. Since then, the feature has been rolled out to podcasts like The WAN Show and Tap In w/ Harry Jowsey.
With this rollout, creators will be able to upload to Spotify’s Anchor web platform and are given access to a collection of podcast-specific new features.
Suite of features
In total, there are six new features that creators can use to expand the reach of their show.
Users will be able to subscribe to their favorite video podcasts thanks to the aptly named Spotify Podcast Subscriptions. That way, you can directly support creators, and in return, get access to exclusive content.
There’s also a new partnership with Riverside.FM, an online recording studio for podcasts. It’s meant to make remote recording sessions easy to do, and best of all, it’s free for creators to record and publish video podcasts on Spotify.
Going down the list, there’s a new embedded video player to make sharing content easier, analytics so creators know how well their show is doing, and new interactive features like Polls and Q&A sessions. That way, listeners can directly interact with the podcast hosts.
And finally, there’s Bulk-replace on Anchor; a migration tool allowing creators to easily replace their audio-only episodes with the video version.
Future releases
Spotify did say they plan to launch Video Podcasts to other markets sometime in the future but didn’t say when or where.
It also teased new monetization features coming to Anchor; new ways for creators to make money off their podcasts, but was also vague on the details.
But it did mention one method. Spotify is adding automated commercials to its Ads by Anchor service, giving third-party brands access to a podcast’s audience. And as a final gift, Anchor posted a tutorial on how to make a video podcast.
