A small fraction of the millions of podcasts produce video, but the idea of watching a podcast is quickly catching on. A new survey asking U.S. podcast consumers how they would define “podcast” reveals three-quarters say it can be either audio or video. Despite its first nearly two-decade run as an audio-only medium, the survey media research firm Coleman Insights and podcast consultancy Amplifi Media conducted finds that slightly more than one in five (22%) podcast consumers say a podcast is “audio-only” while three percent define a podcast as “video only.”
Jay Nachlis, VP/Consultant at Coleman Insights, says the survey results showing the changing podcast definition is more remarkable when you dig into users of specific platforms. “It’s not just YouTube podcast users that are warm to the idea of calling a video a podcast. Our study finds more than two-thirds of Spotify and Apple users feel the same way,” he says.
The findings – which are part of a larger examination of YouTube’s impact on podcasting – also show that although podcasting is habit-forming in terms of the show someone listens to, listeners are less strict about the app on which they access the episode. The survey shows that nearly three-quarters (72%) use multiple apps. But there is a clear leadership hierarchy, according to Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein. “While most podcast consumers use more than one app, three-quarters prefer one of the big three – Apple, Spotify, and YouTube,” he says.
The app that someone consumes a show on also colors how they define a podcast. Among people who say YouTube is their preferred app for podcasts, nine in ten (89%) say a podcast can be either audio or video. That compares to 70% of Spotify preferred users and 67% of Apple Podcast preferred users.
The study also finds that there is a heavy lean toward a few apps among consumers. The data shows 73% of podcast listeners say Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube is the service they most often use for podcasts.
Coleman Insights and Amplifi Media will release the full findings of their research study titled “The New Rules of Podcasting on YouTube” at the Podcast Movement conference on Thursday in Denver. The study was conducted in part with the financial support of the Locked On Podcast Network.