An Audience Analysis of Audio + Video Podcasts That Post to YouTube

In podcasting’s earliest days, weekly video podcasts were among the most popular shows.  Ask a Ninja, Comedy Central’s Stand Up Video, Diggnation, Happy Tree Friends, This Week in Tech - Video and Tiki Bar TV - - all video - - were among the top podcasts in the U.S.  Publishers produced the episodes and distributed them on iTunes and YouTube, and audiences watched them on their preferred platform. 

In the years since, many of the most popular podcasts post audio-only episodes to Apple, Spotify and other RSS platforms multiple times a week.  At the same time, there are a number of popular weekly podcasts that post audio versions of their episodes to Apple and other RSS platforms, and video versions of their episodes to YouTube.  

In this analysis, we’ll provide a complete audience view across all sources of podcast traffic for a sample of weekly Audio + Video Podcasts that post audio via RSS and video to YouTube.

The Podtrac White Paper, An Audience Analysis of Audio + Video Podcasts That Post to YouTube addresses these questions:

  • To what extent do some of the most popular weekly podcasts post video versions of their episodes to YouTube?

  • For podcasts that post to YouTube, how much additional audience and views/downloads are they getting?

  • How engaged are YouTube podcast audiences compared to Apple, Spotify and others?

  • To what extent do top weekly podcasts on YouTube start as video + RSS audio on episode 1 vs RSS audio-only?