Study: Publishers are Posting Podcasts to YouTube

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, May 26, 2022 | 5:22pm CT

Podtrac

A new study from Podtrac shows that 22% of Podtrac's top 250 podcasts post full video episodes (people talking on camera) to YouTube that matched the audio episodes posted to RSS (Apple, Spotify, etc). 67% of top audio podcasts post inconsistently or not at all to YouTube, and 11% post audio-only episodes (including static image or waveform visual) there.

YouTube provided Podtrac with total views and unique monthly audience per channel to help answer this question for a sample of Podtrac's top measured weekly podcasts. Podtrac analyzed the availability of podcasts on YouTube among Podtrac's top 250 measured podcasts for February.

• 67% (167 podcasts) either didn't have a YouTube Channel or had inconsistent or discontinued postings to their channel.

• 22% (54 podcasts) posted full video episodes (people talking on camera) to YouTube that matched the audio episodes posted to RSS.

• 11% (29 podcasts) posted audio episodes (including static image or waveform visual) to YouTube.

Podtrac analyzed the subset of its top 250 measured podcasts with a non-seasonal weekly publishing frequency for February 2022, 63 podcasts total.

• 63% (40 podcasts) either didn't have a YouTube Channel or had inconsistent or discontinued postings to their channel.

• 32% (20 podcasts) posted full video episodes (people talking on camera) to YouTube that matched the audio episodes posted to RSS.

• 5% (3 podcasts) posted audio episodes (including static image or waveform visual) to YouTube.

Podtrac then analyzed the audience, downloads and views of the 20 podcasts in this weekly posting sample. The combined RSS download and YouTube view total for February 2022 was 75 million.

• YouTube contributed an average of 41% of the views and downloads per podcast, Apple 36%, and Spotify 14%.

• YouTube contributed an average of 35% of unique audience members per podcast, Apple 33%, and Spotify 20%.