Podcasts are taking over TV screens as video formats grow increasingly popular

People sitting in front of the TV today might be more likely to flick on a podcast than a prime-time talk show.

People sitting in front of the TV today might be more likely to flick on a podcast than a prime-time talk show.

Audio conversations once relegated to earbuds are now finding more video viewership on digital platforms, adding increased reach along with lucrative advertising revenue to the already popular format.

YouTube, which has become a leading destination for podcast consumers in recent years, said that viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts per month on their TVs in 2024.

“They’ve been tuning into podcasts similarly to how one would tune into a late-night talk show,” Kurt Wilms, the senior director of product management at YouTube, wrote in a blog post this month.

The platform, which first found success on computers and smartphones, has also made inroads into TV viewership. YouTube accounted for 10.4% of all TV viewing in July 2024, according to data from the media analytics company Nielsen, ahead of competitors including The Walt Disney Co. and NBCUniversal (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News).

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/podcasts-taking-over-tv-screens-rcna184411

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