What podcasts looked like in 2024 — literally

In 2024, podcasts have gotten nearer to changing into a video-first medium. Although video podcasts have been round a relatively long time, reveals from The New York Occasions, NPR, and plenty of different podcast networks which have been audio-only for years have just lately began including a video part to be able to acquire new listenership. The truth is, Spotify, a serious participant in podcasts, is about to begin paying podcasters to carry 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’ll simply movie the expertise speaking. In the meantime, weekly podcasts want to appeal to youthful audiences who grew up on YouTube. Because of this, video producers are determining how one can make podcasts, and audio producers are determining how one can make movies.

I’ve seen a number of growing developments on this video-first podcasting format. This isn’t stunning; when one producer discovers a formulation that works, others are going to attempt it. Let’s check out present design and tech developments — after which I’ll discuss what I believe might develop over the following yr or so.

A lot of at the moment’s podcast studios appear to be dwelling rooms and basements. This isn’t a new phenomenon with discuss reveals, however quite a lot of podcasts began out in a dwelling house, and bigger media corporations have adopted that aesthetic. Lamps. Fireplaces. Faux vegetation. Bookshelves. This setting offers a extra “laid again” model of long-form interviewing, which is usually the vibe of most chat-style podcasts.

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

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

With wide-shot digital camera angles showcasing all the room, there’s often one thing in the course of the display screen, like a TV or a large 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 house. Numerous cursive lettering.

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

Microphones are sometimes positioned on ground stands that reach over the couches (these articulating growth stands have been staples in recording studios for many years). Because of this, the stands typically seem from out of the digital camera body and stick up broadly in entrance of company’ faces awkwardly. Poles protruding at numerous incongruent angles look even messier when you’ve 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 growth poles in favor of getting hosts and company maintain their microphones as an alternative. This feels a bit extra genuine and intimate onscreen, and plenty of stand-up comedians favor this methodology. Nonetheless, it might get a bit awkward with inexperienced company who discuss with their palms or who don’t know how one can maintain a microphone with a slender polar sample. 

It could actually get even worse. When podcasts are audio first however with a video part, you typically see awkward practices caught on digital camera, like this occasion the place every visitor is holding their telephone as much as their face to document their audio whereas wanting straight on the viewer. It is a widespread 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 budget MV7 model. For the needs of branding, cubes with the identify of the present are sometimes caught awkwardly on the underside of the microphone. That is paying homage to microphone flags on newscaster stick mics, and they’re now being retrofitted for these traditional radio studio microphones. That is probably as a result of it’s simpler branding on vertically cropped movies than an enormous emblem on the wall in a studio.

Large isolating headphones are widespread in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in quite a lot 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 when you’re taking a look at somebody’s profile view. 

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

I consider 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 explanation for the big headphones and thick microphones overlaying individuals’s faces and go for smaller lavalier mics and in-ear screens. 

New audiences might begin to neglect in regards to the phrase “podcast” and confer with the chat reveals they watch as simply “reveals.” Media executives will attempt to go for syndication of the packages 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, mainly 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 shops, 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 occasions per week and not using a robust following. Perhaps they may even cut back right down to an audio-only format. And maybe that’s the place they may restart a brand new experiment within the audio medium.