My podcast app of choice, Pocket Casts, supports video — and after some Reddit spelunking, it turns out it has for a long time. That sent me back to a question I keep circling: is video actually worth it for your show?
I pull up the YouTube analytics for both of my podcasts, explain why a 74% jump in views hasn't moved the metric I actually care about, and lay out the two-question test I use to decide whether video earns its place in your process.
Resources & Links
- Enjoy Pocket Casts on the big screen
- RSS.com — where I host this show, and where the video support comes from
- Got thoughts? Write in at streamlinedfeedback.com
- Get systems tips in your inbox: streamlined.fm/join
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 I recently made a discovery, and that's that
00:00:04 --> 00:00:08 my podcast listening app of choice, Pocket Casts,
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 supports video. I discovered this because they
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 announced in late July that they have an Apple
00:00:14 --> 00:00:18 TV app now, and I thought it was weird that they
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 would make this big announcement if they didn't
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 support video. And sure enough, they did. But
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 then I made another interesting discovery, and
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 that is that the iOS app that I use is also supporting
00:00:29 --> 00:00:33 video. The video for these episodes show up and
00:00:33 --> 00:00:38 for Streamlight Solopreneur show up, and I hadn't
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42 realized. That so I thought why why didn't they
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 make a bigger announcement of this and in doing
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 some I'll just say reddit spelunking I I learned
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 that apparently this app has supported video
00:00:50 --> 00:00:55 for a very long time and We're probably just
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 noticing now because most shows Didn't or couldn't
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 support video at the level that you would need
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 or at least in a proper way Like maybe this was
00:01:03 --> 00:01:07 something that pocket casts added. So now I am
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 gonna spend this episode once again reiterating
00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 or rehashing like should podcasters care about
00:01:16 --> 00:01:21 video should podcasters have video I have been
00:01:21 --> 00:01:26 doing video on my podcasts basically since I've
00:01:26 --> 00:01:31 gone solo and my podcast hosting apps have supported
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 them so full you know full disclosure here I
00:01:34 --> 00:01:38 am only supporting video because my Hosting platforms
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 support them and it is easy enough for me to
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46 add The video right it is a talking head video.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:50 There's not a ton of editing My audio is really
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 dialed in and so it it doesn't cost me anything
00:01:53 --> 00:01:59 to add video support it actually Simplifies things
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 as far as ease of use goes my comfort level with
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 video and what it adds to my production process
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 It's totally worth it for me to have video. Again,
00:02:07 --> 00:02:11 I went and I looked at the analytics in YouTube,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 or I'll talk about both channels here. So I'll
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 look at the streamlines podcaster first. There's
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 really not much to see here because before RSS
00:02:21 --> 00:02:26 .com started supporting video, I wasn't really
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 uploading to this channel. I was using Podviz,
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 but there are buckets of upload times. Like when
00:02:31 --> 00:02:35 I... made my podcast courses freely available
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 on YouTube because I wasn't going to continue
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 that platform. But aside from that, you know,
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 this this channel has not been uploaded to regularly,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47 and I'm trying to be more regular about this
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 because, you know, I want to do more video content.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 I want to make this podcast work really well.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 I'm the RSS .com evangelist, and so I think it's
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 important for me to actually use the tools. And
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 so this is really important to me. Now, if I
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 look at my other show, my I'll call it my primary
00:03:04 --> 00:03:09 show, the Streamline Solopreneur podcast, I've
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 also kind of seen an uptick here. If I go to
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 the analytics area and I look at the last 90
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 days again, this is only this was getting. uploaded
00:03:20 --> 00:03:25 to more regularly because my host for that podcast
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 will automatically publish to YouTube if I want.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 So views have been up a lot over the last 90
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 days, right? 74 % more views than the previous
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 90 days, which makes sense because I have been
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 publishing here more regularly. So the fact that
00:03:42 --> 00:03:46 they are uploading directly to YouTube is helpful.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 And then I've also added a second episode type
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 for this show called the Friday wrap up, which
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 I record on Friday mornings and publish later
00:03:56 --> 00:04:00 that morning. So, you know, I can't really point
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 to the analytics and say, oh, video is totally
00:04:02 --> 00:04:06 working for me. Video is just working for me
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 because I'm publishing more video or video analytics
00:04:09 --> 00:04:14 are up because I'm publishing more video. So
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 does that mean it's working for me? Well, if
00:04:17 --> 00:04:21 I look at my primary metric, not really. More
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 people aren't joining my mailing list since I've
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 rolled out video and I'm testing a few different
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 calls to action. So maybe that will change. But
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 this is really where we answer the question.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Is video worth it for you? I think it's really
00:04:35 --> 00:04:39 a two question test. Is it going to add more
00:04:39 --> 00:04:43 to your process than it's worth? And what makes
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 your podcast worth doing? What makes your podcast
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 worth doing is getting clients and the discovery
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 mechanisms on all of the video platforms help
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 you get discovered, then sure, maybe it's worth
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 it. For me, it's get people on my mailing list
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 and I'm not doing the YouTube out. So I'm focusing
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 a lot on YouTube here because that's still the
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 biggest video platform. I don't think that there's
00:05:06 --> 00:05:12 like a first mover advantage to having video
00:05:12 --> 00:05:17 on. Apple podcast newly added video is Again,
00:05:17 --> 00:05:21 mostly very well -known shows. I would be very
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25 shocked if I saw my show here Even though I think
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 I probably qualify. This is all well -known people
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 the reality is that the Apple rankings are kind
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 of based on popularity and so unless they have
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 like a independent creators doing video section
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 You're not really gonna benefit from that except
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 for that you're gonna add this new avenue. So,
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 the whole point is that I'm looking at YouTube
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 more because YouTube has a much better discovery
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 engine, but I'm not playing the YouTube game
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 either. And that's the other thing you need to
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 consider, right? What is it going to add to your
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 process? Is it going to be worth it if it's adding
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 that to your process? Like, what's your metric
00:06:01 --> 00:06:05 of success? for your podcast. For me, it's newsletter
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 signups and I cannot say with certainty that
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 I have seen an increase in newsletter signups
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 since adding video to my show. And then the other
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 thing is like, are you willing to do the YouTube
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 game, which is optimize the title, maybe make
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 custom thumbnails? I'm not willing to do that.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 Each of my shows have their own channels and
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 it's just another avenue. for people to discover
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 it if they want. I'm not trying to game the algorithm
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 here. So if you're willing to do that, maybe
00:06:32 --> 00:06:36 you will see better success than me. I personally
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 think that there is a difference between the
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 type of content you see on YouTube and the type
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 of content one would listen to in a podcast.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 If I was making this specifically a YouTube video,
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 it would probably be tighter and I would mention,
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 you know, more visuals or I would show more visuals,
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 but I'm still approaching this from an audio
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 first standpoint. And so have I answered your
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 question? Probably not this kind of all this
00:07:00 --> 00:07:04 is kind of an off the cuff session because the
00:07:04 --> 00:07:08 app that I use supports and seems like it has
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 for a while, but I think people, myself included,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 are just discovering it. So that's it for this
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 episode of the streamlined podcaster. If you
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 have thoughts you can write in over at streamlinedfeedback
00:07:20 --> 00:07:25 .com. If you are trying to get your solo ops
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 under control, your content system. If you're
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 trying to produce a show while running a business,
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 I can help you sign up for my newsletter over
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 a streamlined .fm slash join and you'll get lots
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 of tips on how to improve your systems, use AI
00:07:40 --> 00:07:44 conscientiously and build those solo ops without
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 having to hire a team. Thanks so much for listening
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 to the streamlined podcaster and until next time,
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 I hope you find some space. in your week.