What is a podcast? Rise of Video causes problems for advertisers

No one knows precisely how to define what a “podcast” is – and the debate on the subject is going around the industry.

The term “podcast” has referred to an audio program at the request of people discussing things, but this definition has become blurred over time.

More than half – 52% – people now say videos that are only Available on YouTube can be considered as podcasts, according to a new report by Oxford Road and Edison Research entitled “What is a podcast? Preserving its essence, structuring for expansion.”

The most popular definition of the survey – accepted by 72% – was recordings of people discussing a subject on YouTube which is also available while audio shows elsewhere, such as Spotify or Apple podcasts.

The answers have changed according to the media habits of people. People were more willing to consider videos on YouTube only as podcasts if they had listened to podcasts, and even more so if they had watched video podcasts. Oxford Road and Edison Research interviewed more than 4,000 Americans and more for the report.

The survey is another sign of how the definition of the format moves – and it is not only an academic problem.

The podcasting has never been bigger. He is recognized for helping to shape the presidential election, and Big Tech arrives for his room. YouTube revealed in February that more than a billion people each month listened to podcasts on the platform. Spotify, meanwhile, grows in the video. The creators are also increasingly put in the medium.

But the convergence of audio and video in Podcast support caused the confusion and complexity of advertisers. Announcement buyers must now struggle on which budgets from their customers should get out of – audio or video – and this slows down the advertising purchasing process, according to the report. Platforms like Spotify and YouTube also make third -party follow -up difficult, which means that performance advertisers find it difficult to assess how their announcements occur.

“Where there is a lack of clarity, there is confusion, and there is frustration, and advertisers will take their things elsewhere,” said Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road and Veritone One, who helps marketing specialists to buy podcast announcements. “We have seen advertisers who do not buy shows because of this. This is equipment.”

The Oxford Road and Edison report calls on the Podcast industry to agree on common definitions and explore the development of a system to measure podcasts on platforms.

The video also raises questions for hosts

The transition to video has other consequences on podcasting. Downloading files as videos can earn more money for the host and allow advertisers to reach a wider audience, but this also creates more work.

“This is a good thing because it advances the industry,” said Jeff Umbro, CEO of The Podgglerate, who manufactures, markets and monetizes podcasts for organizations like PBS, Netflix and others. “I also think that no one really talks about the administrative burden that it adds, determining how to reconcile all these payments, the time necessary to download on all these platforms.”

More broadly, the change raises identity questions for hosts. While they go beyond the audio of the video, then make live events and sell advertisements on social networks, they begin to look more like influencers.

Joining the influencer club potentially means accessing a larger pie. Advertisers spent $ 9.2 billion on influence marketing in 2024, compared to $ 2.3 billion on Advertising Podcast by Emarketer. However, he could also keep them away from the positive qualities to which podcasting has become a partner, such as the hosts of the intimate relationship with the public.

As hosts go to other things, it can also be complicated to determine how to share the resulting advertising dollars among stakeholders. And there is the question of what happens to the value of a podcast on YouTube. YouTube videos can order approximately a third of the podcasts announcements because advertisers reduce the quality of visualization.

Steve Blackford, head of the acquisition of customers for Lifelock, a longtime podcast advertiser, said that he had resigned from the discovery of video advertising because that is where the public is going. But it is difficult to follow an ad when it takes place both on video and audio. Some podcasters sell videos and audio together as a bundle and do not break the audience by chain.

“As a performance marketing, it is difficult to bring them together,” said Blackford. “How do I know what value I get?”

Some players try to resolve complexity. Siriusxm moves Creator Connect, a tool that creates different versions of a podcast announcement for video and social media. Gabe Tartaglia, who directs the podcast and satellite sales for Siriusxm, said that the company heard advertisers that they wanted to buy against the multiplates of hosts. About 12% of Siriusxm Podcast advertisers already broadcast announcements on several formats.

Spotify said in a press release that he offers dynamic advertising tools and works with third parties to take charge of his Podcast advertising ecosystem.

What is in a name?

The authors of the report interviewed 30 stakeholders in the industry and found some common themes. Some have said that the audio element was primary.

“If you can mute and it doesn’t make sense, it’s no longer a pod,” said Granger.

Some said it didn’t matter to the platform it was.

The researchers proposed a new definition of the podcast: “an audio program on demand features episodic content through large themes and formats.”

Or, more simply: “If it works with your closed eyes, it’s a podcast.”

A video podcast, meanwhile, is “an episodic program and on demand focused on spoken content, where synchronized visuals significantly shape experience”.

Granger said that without a shared vocabulary that makes it possible to measure and clarify podcasts for advertisers, the risks of the industry decrease.

“Investment in industry continues to grow industry,” he said. “And if they cannot define it, you cannot predict it, and if you cannot plan it, institutional capital is less optimistic, you have less growth.”

Some have said that it wouldn’t care if the word “podcast” was going entirely.

“If podcasting disappears, it is not a national tragedy,” said the report Ira Glass, host of “This American Life”. “Creative people will find a place to do things.”

Another point of view is that industry should not abandon a term that has gained high credibility with advertisers.

An agreement seems to be that the video does not disappear as a format for podcasts, in particular with YouTube which makes a big game for them. The role of Youtube is about to enlarge even if he enters the dynamic insertion of the announcement, because Semafor has reported that he was examining. This would allow more personalization and potentially monitoring.