In 2024, podcasts have gotten nearer to turning into a video-first medium. Although video podcasts have been round a comparatively very long time, reveals from The New York Occasions, NPR, and lots of different podcast networks which were audio-only for years have not too long ago began including a video part with the intention to achieve new listenership. In actual fact, Spotify, a significant participant in podcasts, is about to start paying podcasters to deliver movies to the platform. 

And after years of producers making an attempt to get audio reveals to go viral on social media, podcasts are actually dominating TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts after video producers realized they’ll simply movie the expertise speaking. In the meantime, weekly podcasts want to entice youthful audiences who grew up on YouTube. Consequently, video producers are determining the right way to make podcasts, and audio producers are determining the right way to make movies.

I’ve observed a number of growing traits on this video-first podcasting format. This isn’t shocking; when one producer discovers a formulation that works, others are going to strive it. Let’s check out present design and tech traits — after which I’ll discuss what I feel could develop over the subsequent yr or so.

A lot of right now’s podcast studios seem like dwelling rooms and basements. This isn’t a brand new phenomenon with speak reveals, however plenty of podcasts began out in a dwelling area, and bigger media firms have adopted that aesthetic. Lamps. Fireplaces. Pretend crops. Bookshelves. This surroundings offers a extra “laid again” fashion of long-form interviewing, which is often the vibe of most chat-style podcasts.

Couches and comfortable chairs present up rather a lot on these video reveals. The spherical desk has been ditched, and leisure is essential — it’s much more snug of an surroundings for speaking hours at a time. Each hosts and company are sometimes on a sofa collectively or sitting in comfortable chairs individually. 

One other pattern I’ve observed are these wood slats on the wall in podcast studios — our personal Vox Media area has gone with this design as effectively. These work higher for sound absorption whereas nonetheless wanting like a dwelling area. That is already trying to be a signifier of mid-2020 video podcasts. 

With wide-shot digicam angles showcasing your complete room, there’s normally one thing in the midst of the display, like a TV or an enormous emblem of the present, to create a symmetrical studio look. Neon indicators and coloured lights are very stylish proper now as a result of they add a colourful glow to a extra muted studio area. A number of cursive lettering.

Branding is usually prioritized in video, and most producers assume meaning actually wanting on the emblem for 2 hours. That is additionally a straightforward technique to let a TikTok scroller know what present they’re watching (although this usually doesn’t crop effectively for vertical video).

Microphones are sometimes positioned on ground stands that reach over the couches (these articulating increase stands have been staples in recording studios for many years). Consequently, the stands usually seem from out of the digicam body and stick up broadly in entrance of company’ faces awkwardly. Poles protruding at varied incongruent angles look even messier when you’ve gotten a number of company on separate chairs. 

Although new sorts of mic stands for podcasts have been launched to the market, many reveals are ditching the lengthy, awkward increase poles in favor of getting hosts and company maintain their microphones as an alternative. This feels a bit extra genuine and intimate onscreen, and lots of stand-up comedians desire this methodology. Nonetheless, it could actually get a bit awkward with inexperienced company who speak with their fingers or who don’t know the right way to maintain a microphone with a slender polar sample. 

It will probably get even worse. When podcasts are audio first however with a video part, you usually see awkward practices caught on digicam, like this occasion the place every visitor is holding their cellphone as much as their face to report their audio whereas wanting straight on the viewer. It is a frequent observe for radio interviews however isn’t nice when video is concerned.

The Shure SM7B microphones are nonetheless actually well-liked on this medium in addition to the finances MV7 mannequin. For the needs of branding, cubes with the title of the present are sometimes caught awkwardly on the underside of the microphone. That is harking back to microphone flags on newscaster stick mics, and they’re now being retrofitted for these traditional radio studio microphones. That is possible as a result of it’s more practical branding on vertically cropped movies than an enormous emblem on the wall in a studio.

Huge isolating headphones are frequent in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in plenty of video variations. However when company are distant and are wanting straight at their webcam, these giant ear cups stick out very awkwardly — extra so than for those who’re somebody’s profile view. 

In order that’s what plenty of video podcasts have regarded like by means of 2024. However how about subsequent yr?

I imagine that, in 2025, podcast producers will ultimately cease following these tropes and attempt to differentiate themselves. Some producers that have been employed to assist make the transition to video will begin questioning the rationale for the massive headphones and thick microphones overlaying individuals’s faces and go for smaller lavalier mics and in-ear screens. 

New audiences could begin to neglect in regards to the phrase “podcast” and discuss with the chat reveals they watch as simply “reveals.” Media executives will attempt to go for syndication of the applications on linear platforms like Roku, Pluto, or Tubi. The skinny line between podcasts and TV reveals will get thinner. 

Extra consumer-priced instruments for manufacturing have entered the market, principally turning a easy desk setup and a MacBook into a totally stocked management room. Hosts are already transferring out of the studio and into barber outlets, tennis courts, and on sidewalks. AI instruments like Descript, Hush, and Accentize can flip less-than-optimal microphone recordings into fuller, beefier broadcast-style recordings. Podcasters whose gear is much less able to dealing with uncontrolled recording environments will particularly profit from these postproduction instruments. 

And who is aware of? Maybe the pendulum will swing again once more when budgets for these reveals turn into too expensive to maintain a video present working a number of instances per week with out a robust following. Possibly they are going to even cut back all the way down to an audio-only format. And maybe that’s the place they are going to restart a brand new experiment within the audio medium.