Video Surge Doesn’t Diminish Narrative Podcasts, New Data Shows.

For months, industry chatter has suggested that the rise of YouTube and the dominance of video-first podcasts would inevitably push listeners away from narrative storytelling and toward chat-based talk shows. But the latest Podcast Download report from Cumulus Media, Westwood One, and Signal Hill Insights paints a very different picture.

Narrative shows — those that feature a host telling a story, like “Serial” or “Radio Lab” —remain remarkably resilient and still command the largest share of time spent, even in an era where half of weekly podcast listeners say they prefer actively watching podcasts. According to the study, weekly listeners spend 54% of their total podcast time with narrative shows and 46% with chatcasts — shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience” or “Call Her Daddy.” That near-even split contradicts the assumption that video consumption automatically favors video-friendly talk shows. 

“There’s still a preference for narrative,” said Signal Hill Insights President Paul Riismandel in a webinar detailing the findings. “Neither format is dominating, but you see there is that lean towards spending time with narrative podcasts.” He said podcast listeners who prefer audio do lean more toward narrative series, spending 16% more time with those types of shows than with chatcasts. 

The report also shows the growth of podcast video hasn’t diminished total narrative listening time. Even among listeners who prefer to actively watch podcasts — a group that has doubled in size since 2022 — the balance between narrative and chatcast mirrors the overall audience.

“Those who prefer video you actively watch, but their split pretty much matches the overall average,” Riismandel explained. He said this indicates that video consumption isn’t pushing listeners away from story-driven formats. Instead, video is simply expanding the ways people access podcasts — with narrative audio remaining a core part of the habit.

There is one segment where chatcasts outpace narrative is among listeners who prefer video “minimized” — those who keep the YouTube window open but aren’t watching the screen. These multitasking listeners naturally lean toward conversational content.

“It might be harder to follow a narrative podcast when you’re also scrolling social media,” said Riismandel. “Whereas, if you prefer audio-only, maybe your eyes are not otherwise occupied.” He said this group behaves like on-the-go audio listeners, even when using YouTube. Their preference reflects attention mode, not platform loyalty.

The study also highlights a significant disconnect between what industry observers see in charts and what listeners actually consume. While top-ranking shows often skew toward talk formats, the overall audience remains far more evenly split — and narrative still holds the edge.

Riismandel said that is because the podcast charts don’t represent the full ecosystem. “Throughout that long, long tail, there is so much narrative podcasting, and there are so many successful narrative podcasts,” he said. 

In other words, the demand for narrative shows is far broader than the rankings imply. Much of that audience is distributed across thousands of successful niche series that don’t crack into top 10 lists. “Don’t give up on narrative podcasts — there’s an audience,” he said.

Download the latest “Podcast Download” report HERE.