Look out YouTube, Spotify launches video podcasts – Michelle Obama, Joe Rogan and Fantasy Footballers join its line-up

The music and podcast streaming service has moved into video to increase engagement among its 286 million monthly users

Spotify is offering video podcasts from former US first lady Michelle Obama and comedian Joe Rogan among a roster of celebrities and popular podcasters

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Former First Lady Michelle Obama has announced she’s launching her own podcast, starting on Spotify at the end of July. Photo: Yui Mok/DPA

Published: 8:45pm, 25 Jul 2020Updated: 6:40pm, 26 Jul 2020

Spotify, known as a music and podcast streaming service, is making the leap into video. Seven podcasts available on Spotify, including Higher Learning With Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay, Fantasy Footballers and Book of Basketball 2.0, will now show footage of podcasters recording their programmes.

For years, many podcasters have uploaded video versions of their programmes primarily on YouTube. Now Spotify wants to claw back a share of eyeballs and imagines itself as the destination for all podcast content, including video footage. Previously, it only streamed podcast audio.

The Swedish streaming giant has been snapping up deals with celebrities and popular podcasters for exclusive shows.

A deal announced in May with podcaster Joe Rogan was worth roughly US$100 million for an exclusive video and audio podcast, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to comment on it. Video podcasts will help draw a larger audience and advertising dollars to Spotify’s platform, analysts said.

Book of Basketball 2.0 is one of the video podcasts lined up for Spotify.

“Video is still the top medium to drive engagement,” said Eunice Shin, a partner at consultancy Prophet. “Spotify wants to own and control engagement on their platform – which drives numbers for this revenue model.” Users this week were able to see the videos when they pressed “play” on the podcast episode.

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