With the unprecedented partnership between Spotify and Netflix, the video podcast is establishing itself as a pivotal format between streaming and social media. A hybridization that redefines the production, consumption and monetization of content in the post-YouTube era.
A format at the crossroads of worlds
Long confined to audio, podcasts are now asserting themselves as visual content in their own right. The video format, popularized on YouTube and TikTok, gives the podcast a staged, intimate and interactive dimension. According to a Cumulus Media study, 72% of listeners now prefer podcasts accompanied by a videoand this massive shift marks the rise of the video podcast as missing link between digital radio and on-demand television.
Streaming platforms see this as a double opportunity, increase user retention And develop richer advertising inventories. Spotify, a pioneer of the movement, now hosts more than 430,000 video podcastswhose consumption is growing 20 times faster than that of audio formats.
Netflix and Spotify, the new allies of long-form entertainment
The partnership between Spotify and Netflix, announced for launch in the United States in early 2026, illustrates this convergence of ecosystems. Emissions from Spotify Studios And The Ringer, The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables, Dissect, Conspiracy Theories, will be accessible in full on Netflix, which will not show additional advertisementsbut will retain the in-app placements sold by Spotify.
This merger marks a strategic turning point, because Netflix, in search of inexpensive content with high engagement value, is testing for the first time the integration of audio-visual formats produced outside its editorial scope.
For Spotify, it’s a way of break with the logic of exclusivity and kiss a cross-platform distribution, a model inspired by television syndication channels.
YouTube, the benchmark… and the competitor to beat
If Spotify and Netflix unite, it is also for free yourself from the cultural monopoly of YouTube. Google’s platform remains today the leading global channel for video podcast consumptionconcentrating the majority of audiences and advertising revenues. But the fragmentation of attention and the rise of short content (Shorts, Reels, TikTok) have created space for a long, scripted and otherwise monetizable conversation format.
The challenge for Spotify and Netflix will be to reinventing long-format audiovisual storytelling : content designed for discovery and the recommendation algorithm, but produced with television codes, fixed framing, multi cameras, visual dressing, and sometimes guests on set.
This new balance blurs the boundaries between studio, channel and platformlike video talk shows that have become franchises in their own right (Call Her Daddy, The Diary Of A CEO, The Joe Rogan Experience).
A new production and monetization ecosystem
The development of video podcasts relies on a changing technological infrastructure. Tools like Riverside, Descript or Spotify for Podcasters simplify multi-camera capture, automatic synchronization and simultaneous broadcasting on multiple platforms. On the monetization side, the advertising model is moving towards synchronized visual integrations with product displays, dynamic QR codes, or interactive calls-to-action.
This development paves the way for a new ecosystem of semi-professional creationwhere podcasters become producers, directors and broadcasters. Spotify is also experimenting with revenue sharing programs for top-performing video creators, inspired by the YouTube Partner Program model.
The next frontier: data and measurement
There remains a gray area: audience measurement, Netflix, traditionally opaque about its viewing data, will not share detailed indicators with Spotify. This lack of transparency makes advertising valuation and comparison with YouTube standards (views, average duration, completion rate) difficult. For the industry, the question is how to measure content simultaneously broadcast on several platforms, with heterogeneous and non-interoperable metrics?
Initiatives are emerging to create a cross-platform standard for measuring video podcastsparticularly on the side of Chartable and Podtrac, but no consensus yet exists. This is one of the major obstacles to the full integration of the format into the advertising schedules of major advertisers.
