What podcasts looked like in 2024 — literally

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 Instances, NPR, and lots of different podcast networks which have been audio-only for years have lately began including a video element in an effort to acquire new listenership. In truth, Spotify, a serious participant in podcasts, is about to start paying podcasters to convey movies to the platform. 

And after years of producers attempting to get audio reveals to go viral on social media, podcasts at the moment are dominating TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts after video producers realized they will simply movie the expertise speaking. In the meantime, weekly podcasts wish to appeal to youthful audiences who grew up on YouTube. Because of this, video producers are determining learn how to make podcasts, and audio producers are determining learn how to make movies.

I’ve observed just a few creating tendencies on this video-first podcasting format. This isn’t stunning; when one producer discovers a method that works, others are going to attempt it. Let’s check out present design and tech tendencies — after which I’ll speak about what I feel could develop over the following 12 months or so.

A lot of right this moment’s podcast studios seem like dwelling rooms and basements. This isn’t a brand new phenomenon with speak reveals, however a whole lot of podcasts began out in a dwelling area, and bigger media corporations have adopted that aesthetic. Lamps. Fireplaces. Faux crops. Bookshelves. This setting provides a extra “laid again” type of long-form interviewing, which is usually the vibe of most chat-style podcasts.

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

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

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

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

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

Although new sorts of mic stands for podcasts have been launched to the market, many reveals are ditching the lengthy, awkward growth poles in favor of getting hosts and friends maintain their microphones as a substitute. This feels a bit extra genuine and intimate onscreen, and lots of stand-up comedians want this technique. Nevertheless, it could actually get a bit awkward with inexperienced friends who speak with their palms or who don’t know learn how to maintain a microphone with a slim polar sample. 

It may possibly get even worse. When podcasts are audio first however with a video element, 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 instantly 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 in style on this medium in addition to the finances MV7 mannequin. For the needs of branding, cubes with the identify 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 a giant emblem on the wall in a studio.

Massive isolating headphones are frequent in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in a whole lot of video variations. However when friends are distant and are wanting instantly at their webcam, these massive ear cups stick out very awkwardly — extra so than for those who’re taking a look at somebody’s profile view. 

In order that’s what a whole lot of video podcasts have seemed like by way of 2024. However how about subsequent 12 months?

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

New audiences could begin to neglect concerning the phrase “podcast” and check 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 completely stocked management room. Hosts are already shifting 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 grow to be too expensive to maintain a video present operating a number of instances per week with out a sturdy following. Possibly they are going to even cut back right 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.