What's Up with YouTube and Podcasting (3 Things)

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another 3 Things in Podcasting, it's July 26, 2024. And today I want to mostly talk about video. I have had a lot on my mind about analytics but I'm not really ready to talk about that yet.

[00:00:19] I'm working on a project and I will likely address that later in the summer or early fall, definitely post podcast movement. A couple of housekeeping things before we dive into those 3 topics is that while I have been focusing on the news for this particular type of episode,

[00:00:44] that's not really where I feel I can best serve my audience, all of you find folks listening. I feel like the best place for me to do that is by looking at the news and then trying to extract trends especially as it applies to your podcast workflows.

[00:01:07] So what I'm going to try from for at least a few weeks let me know over at podcastworkflows.com slash feedback if you like this is I'm going to look at some news stories and then talk about podcasting and podcast processes writ large.

[00:01:27] Last bit of housekeeping is that I will be on vacation next week and so I have a special episode of 3 Things in Podcasting that's not going to be based on news at all. And it's going to be 3 ways for you to get the most out of podcast movement.

[00:01:43] I've already recorded that so if you're wondering what a production schedule looks like when a solo podcast or goes on vacation.

[00:01:53] Today's basically a recording day for me, I'm recording a bunch of episodes ahead of time so that the tank is full of 4 when I am away and and also like getting back because I get back on Saturday and so I want to have stuff for the first couple of days.

[00:02:12] For that hopeful vacation hangover. Okay, so that is it for the housekeeping stuff. Let's actually get in to those three things. So the first one I want to highlight is only 10 gently related to.

[00:02:35] So not even not even really related if I'm being honest with you, but I think that this is really interesting data and it can inform. Kind of where podcasting is going and I want to talk about that because that is you know part of how video fits into.

[00:02:56] Podcasting is video is where podcasting is going like whether you like it or not. You know old school podcasters will say like if it's video, it's not a podcast if it doesn't have an RSS feed, it's not a podcast.

[00:03:10] But that's really for the listeners to decide right podcast is short for iPod broadcast. A real peerist would say, well it's not on an iPod so it's not a podcast, right but that's not the way it works.

[00:03:26] We are creating content for people to consume and a podcast is really about the format and the goal in my opinion.

[00:03:36] And so anyway, I think that's how all of this kind of fits in writ large but I do want to share my stream deck is too far away from me to reach too far. Okay here we go.

[00:03:47] I want to share this super interesting page from pod news called podcast host changes and it observes host changes over the last 30 days so we could say like we could see like spreaker has lost a lot of podcasts.

[00:04:13] And see that Spotify for podcasters appears I mean Spotify is killing it on this chart right like megaphone and Spotify for podcasters both have made apparent big games.

[00:04:27] Of course this doesn't tell the whole story because like Spotify for podcasters also lost a lot right people going to other hosts, libson appears to have lost a lot.

[00:04:40] I like this because it megaphone is lost a lot right so I like this because you can kind of see what the hosting landscape is and how it changes. Then they also have an alphabetical list of the overall stats so like bus sprout lost 15 overall.

[00:05:00] Libson lost 31 overall right and so the other thing we could see here is that not a lot of there's not a lot of host changing going on megaphone gained 90 overall that's probably the most.

[00:05:15] RSS.com somebody with whom I work I am there evangelist they gained 13 overall Spotify for podcasters gained 53 overall so like I mean yeah they had big games but they also had pretty big losses.

[00:05:31] I think it's a bit of a spreeaker lost 55 overall I'm going to go ahead and say that's probably the biggest loser on this list. And so I just think it's really interesting also if you click through you can kind of he needs to have like out who moved.

[00:05:45] So you could see which podcasters move from where now if you're not like deeply embedded in the podcast space you might be wondering like who cares right but I think it's an interesting trend right so like sub stack for instance in sub stack lost let's see sub stack.

[00:06:00] has where are you game 17 overall 22 games to five losses and that could be because like sub stack does offer. essentially free podcast hosting as well as easy membership and if you're focused on a newsletter as well as a podcast. sub stack maybe right for you.

[00:06:25] I can guess that Spotify has seen Spotify for podcasters has seen big games because it's free like the sound cloud to Spotify move is an interesting one because sound cloud is free Spotify for podcasters is also free Spotify for podcasters I looked into this this is.

[00:06:45] like pure speculation but Spotify for podcasters does support video now I couldn't find the same thing from megaphone like I wasn't you know I took a quick look at what megaphone offers.

[00:07:00] I couldn't find video but Spotify for podcasters supports video now so you can upload video and that'll get posted in the Spotify app and then your show will still get syndicated to.

[00:07:11] I can't say one way or another if that's the reason that people are switching like we just don't have that data this is purely technical data where. I think the podcast is really interesting.

[00:07:30] I don't know if this page is new right it was published so it was updated I'm recording this on the 25th so. I don't know how do these pages but they highlighted it in a recent issue of pod news and I thought it was super interesting.

[00:07:57] and this is kind of what got me thinking about like what like what is a podcast host what do people look for I had a discovery call recently with somebody who's considering hiring me as a coach.

[00:08:09] and they said that they abandoned their podcast like RSS feed and are just publishing on YouTube currently now they plan to go back but.

[00:08:20] it's really interesting like it appears that he has seen better traction from video than audio only something to think about right and so that brings me into. the next topic here which is about how podcasters are using video and so.

[00:08:46] I'm going to say I'm going to bring this up in a minute. the pod news. I'm sorry note the podcast host gear software and set up survey which was like over 500 podcasters so.

[00:09:04] I think like in the United States a thousand is statistically significant but this is this is data. from the podcast hosts audience which is.

[00:09:14] Well actually I can I can check this data I covered this a few weeks ago on three things in podcasting just like the general overview but now I want to leverage it for a very specific. area before diving into the rest of this stuff so.

[00:09:32] how long have you been podcasting it appears that 21% under a year 22% have not launched yet 18% between. years. So if we look, if we kind of throw this number out, we're looking at 39%

[00:09:54] two years or fewer. And so I guess that would make it most of the survey. I guess you can combine any numbers to make it most of the survey. But we're looking at less than 20%

[00:10:10] for five or more years, right? So definitely a specific type of audience here. Now if we scroll to do you record video, I have mentioned this before and I feel like I should state it. I love

[00:10:24] the folks over at the podcast host. We just did a podcast swap. They're great. I love what they do for the industry. But I feel like I should mention and they do mention it and I think the

[00:10:36] video editing or podcast software area, they own a podcast recording and editing suite called Alitu which to my knowledge does not support video. So you know some grain assault here. But 48% of their audience said they don't record video 30% said yes 20% said sometimes

[00:11:01] and then it appears that as they say here it may also be generation only podcasters could be more familiar with video. So less than a year 31% record 1 to 5 slightly more. Basically the same. 5 plus years 50% 50.6% don't record video. So that's something to consider.

[00:11:30] 62% of podcasters don't record live based on this survey. And then if we look at recording, audacity sits at the top. If we go to video editing software for those who do use video editing

[00:11:49] premiere is number one. Descript moving up the list I move you but like premiere and I move you had been around forever. So something else to think about there. So anyway I want to use this

[00:12:01] basically as a setup for where is what is video have to do with pod casting? Where is video going in pod casting? And part of that is has to do with a couple of other pieces that pod news put out.

[00:12:20] That was a lot of appease. Sorry if my positive of my pop filters not working. But I think the overall point here is that okay 50% of people surveyed here don't record video. However, over 30% I pointed this out a couple weeks ago to on three things in pod casting.

[00:12:41] Over 30% of American adults use YouTube for pod casts. And that is shifting a lot. I was asked in an interview yesterday do I recommend podcaster start with video and keep

[00:12:58] YouTube in mind? And I said yes. If you would ask me that two years ago I would have said no. But the habits are changing YouTube has invented invested a ton of money into pod casting

[00:13:14] and making pod casting work. And that is the third topic or the third thing that I really want to mention today is kind of YouTube writ large in the pod casting space. What's their deal?

[00:13:32] What's the update? Is there anything to update? I assume I'll have more to talk about with this after pod cast movement. I assume the three things in pod casting to follow pod cast movement will be my three biggest takeaways from pod cast movement.

[00:13:51] But let's talk about YouTube and especially YouTube stats. So how do again, the pod cast host or I'm switching back and forth? Pod News has a really good piece about how do YouTube

[00:14:10] stats work for pod castors? Do you mind YouTube stats appear in my pod cast host total numbers? No. If you got 50 views on a video for your pod cast, those 50 views are not going to show up as

[00:14:22] 50 downloads in your pod cast host. So if you're using RSS dot com or somebody else, it's not going to show up there. I'm using my RSS feed to get my pod cast into YouTube,

[00:14:35] do you place on YouTube appear in my pod cast host total numbers? No. Why are my YouTube stats not showing up? Because so they have a really good explainer here. The main reason that there's

[00:14:47] disparity right now is YouTube is not continually reading the RSS feed. They are pulling the MP3 or the audio file from the RSS feed and creating a video out of it, and then they never look at it again.

[00:15:06] Which means that not only will your stats not be updated, but if you update the episode later, that change is not going to make it to YouTube. So that's another thing to consider, right?

[00:15:25] So that doesn't count why can't YouTube fix it so that stats appear in my pod cast feed? They recently, like earlier this year, rolled out the analytics API. And so that is, but there's still a lot. Like there's a really good technical explanation here. There's

[00:15:47] a lot of coding and requires you to log into YouTube and associate your account. But these figures won't measure the same thing. YouTube measures views, not downloads. The way it measures audience figures is different from the way pod casting works.

[00:16:01] They are not looking at the same thing. And this is this is a problem with pod casting in general. In my piece about the seven deadly sins of pod casting, NV or chasing downloads is bad because

[00:16:19] it's different across hosts. And yes, the IAB is trying to fix that and standardize it. But as far as I know at the time of this recording, there is only one host who's like fully IAB certified

[00:16:35] or IAB 2.2 certified, but there's also compliant and there's different versions of IAB certification. So it's very confusing. And on top of that, you have your host measuring, you have YouTube measuring different things, you have services like chartable

[00:16:52] and pod track all measuring different things. And then the stuff that you get from them is different from what you're going to see in Apple podcast and Spotify for podcasters, because they're only measuring engagement on their platform similar to YouTube.

[00:17:05] And they have a lot more numbers because of it. And so it's very confusing. And I think that it's something worth thinking about when you consider the success of your pod cast.

[00:17:24] So to tie this back to kind of video and pod casting writ large, the other story I want to share here, I'm seeing YouTube music appear in my podcast host stats. Why? Another really good

[00:17:42] explainer that now YouTube music allows you to add an RSS feed to their app. So it works like more traditional pod cast apps, like pocket cast or overcast. So YouTube will fully support our SS feeds fully and we'll play them. Your pod cast

[00:18:11] host will get those stats because now it's it's reading from RSS. You won't get those stats in YouTube Studio, right? Those are different things. YouTube Studio and YouTube analytics are viewing engagement on videos on platform. YouTube music includes that like when you're when you add a pod

[00:18:31] cast to YouTube, it shows up in YouTube music but the YouTube music app also supports RSS feeds. In typical Google fashion, they've made this as confusing as possible. Part of this is because

[00:18:45] they're killing Google pod casts so full to all into YouTube music but this is all very confusing. And so why should pod casters mess with video at all when it can be this confusing? Well,

[00:19:02] first of all, YouTube is still the best discovery engine for content. It's what makes YouTube videos so great. I should say long form content, right? TikTok tried supporting pod cast earlier this year and last year and they decided to kill it because people who were looking at

[00:19:25] three minute video clips are not interested in listening to a 60 minute audio only piece of content. But YouTube is great for finding long form content. Second biggest search engine in the world, there's no better discovery engine right now than YouTube and so you want your pod cast

[00:19:46] to be there. They are also investing heavily in pod casting and so, you know, there's a story about how Walt Disney insisted that once it became possible to broadcast in technicalor, he insisted his animators do all of their cartoons and movies in color because he didn't want

[00:20:12] to be behind the eight ball and even though nobody in American homes at the time had color TV is he knew they would and that they'd ultimately have to go back and update older, black and white only cartoons. I think it's very similar to YouTube right now.

[00:20:34] We're at a moment where video production is easier and more people are using YouTube to find pod casts and people are watching talking head videos like this one. My main reason for saying

[00:20:52] don't mess with YouTube two years ago or don't mess with video two years ago is I thought nobody wanted to watch just a side by side panel of two people talking and that turned out to really

[00:21:06] not be true right? Yes, you can mix it up with camera switching and different zooms and it's really easy for me to do that with E.K.M. live in my stream deck and that probably helps but ultimately

[00:21:22] people are willing to just watch a conversation and there's probably a lot to be said about the ability to see a conversation. So I think YouTube in general you want to be there because it's

[00:21:35] good discovery but also you want to have video because video is more engaging than audio only. If we look at right like some of these videos are it's if it wasn't happening automatically

[00:21:53] it wouldn't be worth it for me to upload these. Maybe a really good comparison here is if we look at podcast workflows which has basically become a place that is just the RSF feed for this show.

[00:22:10] We have pod cast or a place, pod cast or play school bells in three things, Spotify ads comments, so 14 and 6 and then if we look at, oh no that's not the right channel. If we look at

[00:22:27] this channel where you're watching this video maybe we do a comparison and we see 21 views, 10 views free alternative lips in 10 views. So like we're seeing slightly more engagement I guess

[00:22:46] I'm trying to figure out kind of the right way to present this but the point being that if you have a halfway decent camera there are tools that can record video now. Video is worth investing

[00:23:03] in I think and I'm going to experiment with this more my editor just started editing video and so I'm going to start sending him the interview recordings of Streamline Toloprnuire to see if it

[00:23:16] makes a difference. So part of what I'm going to have to do is turn off RSF suggestion just in or with my host transistor it'll automatically send the video. So I'll have to turn that off and have my VA

[00:23:31] upload the video to YouTube separately but I suspect that that will create more engagement. So it's still experimental but it's someplace you want to be and yes the more effort you put into

[00:23:48] video the better it'll be but you don't have to put a ton more effort and I would say like do this when you're ready but I'm confident that based on what we've talked about here with various podcast

[00:24:03] host changes podcasters using video and how YouTube stats are shaking out video is going to be way more important. Video is part of the future of podcasting YouTube wants that to be true Spotify wants

[00:24:19] that to be true and so with other things like the live item tag work you can live stream your podcast into certain apps I think that we're going to see more video content because it is more engaging

[00:24:37] it's a way to reach your audience and if you are there now then you will be able to hone and improve the craft for when we do see for when we do get to a point where video is must have.

[00:24:55] I don't think we're there yet and I think there will be a place for audio and video you know there are some YouTube channel I watch called Alt Shift X he does like a three-hour live

[00:25:11] stream after every episode of House of the Dragon and I'll start watching it on YouTube but if I have to step away because he doesn't rely heavily on visuals I mean he has a lot of visuals but

[00:25:22] he doesn't strictly rely on them. I will listen to part of it in the car as well and I think that there's going to be a point where you know it'll be worth thinking those two things up so I think once

[00:25:38] we get to that point you're going to want to have video and starting earlier is better right you want to be a first mover so that should I've been thinking about in three things in podcasting

[00:25:50] that's it for this episode I hope you enjoyed it if you did and you're watching on YouTube leave a comment hey or in Spotify now I guess right they allow comments too so yet another reason that

[00:26:02] you would want to consider having your video on YouTube it's more engaging and people can actually engage as well so that's it for this episode of podcast workflows that's it for this episode of

[00:26:14] three things in podcasting if you want to get tips about your workflow how you can improve video if you want to learn more about video let me know you can sign up for the free mailing list over at

[00:26:27] podcastworkflows.com slash join it's free and it'll teach you how to save 12 hours per week on your podcast even if you're doing video there are a lot of ways for you to optimize your workflow when you're doing

[00:26:40] video but that's it thanks so much for watching and until next time I'll see you out there