Is YouTube the top Podcast platform?

Five charts to start your day

Good morning – here are your five chart for the day.

So this is something I've been doing recently. I've noticed that a lot of YouTube videos actually work as both podcasts and videos. And that's actually quite good for me because I can listen to them while I'm walking (and you can't really watch a screen while you walking for obvious reasons).

Moreover, this is a trend that is taking off. A lot of podcast listeners now tune into YouTube as you can see in our first chart today.

There are some reasons why this is happening. Firstly, it makes sense for podcasters to record their podcasts because they can use snippets of that video for marketing campaigns. Secondly, they can also upload them to YouTube because it instantly increases their reach.

And it seems that this is paying off. Take a look.

CHART 1 • Is YouTube the top podcast platform?

Let’s have a closer look at this chart from Chartr. Overall, 39% of weekly US podcast listeners now choosing YouTube as their primary platform. YouTube has been so successful that the video giant has left Spotify scrambling at 21% and Apple's once-dominant Podcasts app gasping at just 8%.

This shift actually represents one of the biggest disruption in audio media since iTunes revolutionised music distribution two decades ago. And, it is a shift that many of us haven't noticed.

YouTube now boasts over one billion monthly podcast viewers globally, dwarfing Spotify's entire 675 million monthly active user base. The platform added 12 percentage points of market share in just three years, while Apple haemorrhaged 21 points over the same period.

What's driving this revolution? Video. I know that sounds strange, but podcast listeners actually like watching podcasts. I do. At least sometimes I watch them and sometimes I listen to them.

Over 50% of top podcasts now release in video format, up from 24% just last year. Joe Rogan's Trump interview alone pulled 56 million views. For investors, this signals a fundamental restructuring of the $4.46 billion global podcast advertising market. YouTube's dominance means podcasters also chase views, not just listeners, fundamentally changing content economics. This is undoubtedly the most interesting chart I've seen today.

Source: Chartr

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