Last year, YouTube was a big surprise to me – I had always been of the opinion that podcast should be on podcast platforms and YouTube should have content made specifically for it. Well, I was proved soundly wrong. People use YouTube to listen to podcasts! This year, we found that 91% of the top 100 shows have YouTube channels – a slight increase over last year’s 88%. Because we were so surprised by the stats last year – we delved a lot deeper into what podcasters are doing with their channels.

The first thing to note is that 7 of the channels looked to be abandoned – that just goes to show you that maintaining multiple channels is a challenge even for the most popular among us. Secondly. 34 of the channels we looked at were network channels, used to promote multiple podcasts, and often other content! Finally, there were 22 shows with YouTube channels that were not placing full episodes on them – that plus the 7 abandoned channels and the 9 not on the platform at all means that we are looking at a total of 62 Shows using YouTube for podcast episodes.

So within these – what format are podcasts taking on YouTube this year? Most of those (37) have Live Action episodes – full recordings of their episodes on the channel. A lot of people consider this when they’re starting out, but there are some good reasons not to, even though it’s a popular choice. Looking and sounding good on video is a different skillset than sounding great in audio, and it can often be easier to get guests to commit to audio-only, rather than having to dress and otherwise prepare for a video! The editing is also less expensive when you’re only dealing with sound. So what are you other options?

You can be like the 18 shows who use a still-image or audiogram style video with the audio overlaid on a graphic for the channel. This is a great way to serve listeners who use YouTube for their media, without hiking your production costs to the sky! If production time and investment isn’t an issue, however, you can make like the 6 shows who create very highly produced videos with intros, segments and high-quality post-production treatments. Finally, 8 shows used a variety of formats, which is a nice way to test out different options and see what works best for your audience and team!

While there’s nothing stopping you from only using YouTube for your podcast like 13% of the channels we looked at, but if you’re going to be using the platform, it makes sense to add more. There are basically limitless options for what to put on your YouTube channel, and some of the most popular options were News and Commentary about what is going on in your industry, bonus or supplemental podcast content – which is a great way to drive your podcast listeners to your YouTube channel and grow your audience there. You can also have more directly teaching or educational style content, and of course, promote your products and services.

One thing to keep in mind is the power of YouTube channels for organizing your content and creating a convenient experience for your viewers there. Channels are categories of content that creators can make on their channel – organizing all episodes, or all reviews, or all highlights into a single playlist that will make it easy for people to navigate. 86% of the YouTube channels we looked at use this functionality, and you should too.

A quick note about the popularity of the top shows’ YouTube channel traction – there were some absolutely massive channels – but there were also many that seem to be at the beginning of their YouTube journeys. While many channels have subscribers and average video views numbering in the hundreds of thousands – there were those with significantly less! If you haven’t started, now is a very good time – even if you’re just getting in the habit of uploading episodes to the platform to establish a library.

Our final topic for analysis is going to be Social Media! Stand by – we’ll get it to you in a follow up episode! Cf. One Stone Creative

Mick Smith, Consultant M: (619) 227.3118

E: mick.smith@wsiworld.com

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