Podcasting Versus YouTube: Video Will Not Kill The Audio Star!

Disruption. How many times have we heard that word when referring to seismic and unexpected change in business and culture. 23andMe, Airbnb, Apple, Impossible Foods, Uber, and Tesla. They've all radically transformed what we do, how we think or what we buy. 

Established companies in every industry want to disrupt, but also live in constant fear that a new company will be the disruptor.

That's what seems to be happening in podcasting with YouTube now. A recent study by market research firm Cumulus found YouTube is already the most popular platform for podcasts. In effect, YouTube won the podcast wars without so much as winning one battle. 

 YouTube has launched a dedicated beta podcast landing page, hired a podcast executive to lead its efforts in the medium, and offered popular podcasters and podcast networks grants of up to $300,000 to create video versions of their shows. This, according to Bloomberg.

So before Spotify, the other podcast networks, and the media raise YouTube's hands in victory, let's talk about the apocalyptic threat that video poses to podcasting.  

First, what is a podcast. Let's return to the "Big Bang" of podcasting, although it was more of a few mouse clicks than a massive explosion.

 "Podcast" is a portmanteau of "iPod" and "broadcast". The earliest use of "podcasting" was traced to The Guardian columnist and BBC journalist Ben Hammersley who coined it in early February 2004 while writing an article for The Guardian newspaper.

It's important to note that the term "podcast" predates Apple's addition of podcasting features to the iPod and the iTunes software.

In recent years, companies have "sea-lampreyed" themselves to the podcasting term by defining anything audio as a podcast. Facebook tried it and then Clubhouse -- an audio-based social media app --was born. The company pitched the app as "a new type of social product based on voice, enabling people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships, and meet interesting new people around the world."

It's not a podcast. It's pen pals without the paper and mail and with software and hardware. After a big splash, user enthusiasm waned significantly. 

Some people liken the threat of video podcasts to that of the birth of broadcast TV and its effect on radio. Yet the comparison does not fit. Before TV, people listened to large radios in their homes as a family with programming consisting of drama, comedy and music. In effect, people sat in their living room and did nothing else but listen to their radio. When TV came along, it simply replaced that "time" with pictures instead of just sound.  

Now, let's look at how podcasts are consumed. Recent surveys and research reveal that a majority of podcast listeners are engaged in another activity while listening. The commute is the number one activity during podcast consumption, followed by exercising, household chores, listening during work, and daily activities. In essence, podcasting occurs during the interstices of the day. 

How about video podcasting? Unless you're on public transit, a video podcast while driving to work can only increase the skyrocketing auto accident fatality rate. 

"Sorry, officer. I was watching Dax Shepard and didn't see that car stop in front of me. Do I really have to pause Dax while you're arresting me?"

Going on an invigorating five-mile run while watching a video podcast is akin to crossing a busy street blindfolded. 

Since video podcasts typically require exclusivity of your time, there is not the productivity component that has attached itself to podcast listening.

"I weeded the entire vegetable garden while I listened to three podcasts."

"My parents threatened me if I didn't clean up my room, so I did it while listening to two podcasts, one with adult content. They'll never know."

Contrast the kinetic energy linked with audio podcasts to the slacker 2.0 vibe of video podcasts.

"What'd you do today, hon?"

"Not much. Spent the morning in bed watching several video podcasts and then ate lunch, moved to the comfy chair and watched more video podcasts."

Video podcasts demand eye and ear time. Doing something else while watching a video podcast where you're mostly listening and not watching begs the question: Why don't you just listen to the audio version? You'll be much better at brain surgery that way.

I've watched several video podcasts, so I can have some shaky credibility about my topic. Joe Rogan has been proactive in posting clips from his podcasts on YouTube. I watched a few clips. Here's a blow-by-blow account. The camera zooms in on Rogan with headphones on, talking into a microphone positioned below nose level. Then the guest speaks. The guest has headphones on, and a microphone about nose level. The guest is across from Rogan. When the guest speaks, the camera focuses on the guest. Rogan speaks, and the camera focuses on him. For variety, when the guest speaks, the camera sometimes focuses on Rogan. Rogan then the guest. The guest then Rogan. You get the idea. The whole experience is like watching a tennis match with words and mics instead of fuzzy yellow balls.

A majority of podcasts are interview shows or narration shows. How would a video podcast interview podcast be different from the Kelly Clarkson Show on TV? Do I really need to see Adam Grant's mouth move in order to enjoy the wisdom that emanates from his workplace podcast? I love Michael Barbaro's voice from The Daily. Why do I need to see his lips, and then observe with envy his fluffy head of hair? I enjoy Slate's Political Gabfest. I've seen it live, where the immediacy sparks that crackle of energy. Normally, I am content to just listen to Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz.

Because 99% Invisible is a podcast about design, you'd think a video podcast would enhance the experience. Credit to Roman Mars because the video is not a talking "miced-up" head but a static image of their episode topic. One episode about how time became standardized due to the railroads showed black and white images of railroads. Nice touch.

Certainly, there is potential for video podcasts to enhance meaning for the listener. Of course, that requires a substantial investment in money, equipment and time. Some estimates are that a video studio would cost five times as much as an audio studio. At that cost, there better be porn.

So far, the cost benefit analysis seems to favor audio podcasts.

Consider audiobooks, since they are the fastest growth sector of the book business. However, there is not yet a huge wave of demand to watch a narrator read a book. Think about that. What would you rather do? Listen to your 14-hour audiobook during your commute or while working around the house or sit in front of a screen (phone, tablet, TV) and watch a person with headphones on read from a script. Maybe, if you're lucky, you might catch a narrator produce some spittle in the corner of their mouth from talking so long. 

From a purely scientific perspective (now, I sound like that snotty Ben Shapiro), watching and listening is a radically different sensuous experience than just listening. We are a visually dominant species. When we can see a podcast host talk into the microphone, we do not listen to the words as closely. An emotional connection is lost, because the eyes are hogging all your bandwidth.

When does a true-crime podcast that goes video simply become a documentary? When is a video comedy podcast just a Netflix or HBO Max special?

In 2020, ex-Disney guru Jeffrey Katzenberg began a short-form video service called Quibi. Video content was, of course, abbreviated in nature like a podcast and had various genres -- comedy, documentary, fiction -- just like podcasts. With nearly two billion dollars invested in the service, Quibi went down in a colossal ball of fire after a few months. Sure, Quibi was set up as a subscription service, but so are a growing number of podcasts. 

So, after all this, where are we at?

First, despite my whiny blubbering, I think there can be a slot for video podcasts?

Second, will video podcasts slaughter audio podcasts like some media experts predict? I don't think so, but if I'm wrong, feel free to curse me a few years from now, which will give me plenty of time to assume a new identity.

Third, just like broadcast television didn't kill radio but forced it to find new markets, audiences, and content, so too will audio podcasts survive and thrive. Can video and audio podcasts play nice together? Yes. They should because for most podcasters and podcast networks they will be complementary vehicles, not adversaries.

Fourth, audio only has a special place for humans that cannot be supplanted by video. Music, for example, is a predominantly audio experience and music videos have only augmented the audio musical experience. How many musical or musical variety shows are on television? Think. Think hard. Count. Maybe Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (a great show!) on NBC. 

In the way that music entrances our ears, commands our bodies to move rhythmically, and supercharges our imagination, audio podcasts emit similar wave patterns focusing on the intellect, our emotions, and our creativity. 

I once saw an art teacher ask her students to draw on a canvas based on a piece of classical music they heard. The results were stunning. 

So don't give up without a fight, audio podcasts.

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) podcast All In The Mind is one of the best audio podcasts I've encountered. 

The show's host is Sana Qadar, who was born to host a podcast. It has to be genetic. She's just too good to have learned the skills intrinsic to podcast hosting -- a resonant voice soaked with empathy, a desire to inform, and a cadence that sounds like each spoken word is carefully curated before being uttered.

I do not need to see Sana Qadar. Her voice -- from her inflections, timbre, and cadence -- infects my ears so completely that my eyes can simply sit on the sidelines. 

Come on, audio podcasts. Don't go down without a fight.