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, exhibits from The New York Occasions, 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. Actually, Spotify, a serious participant in podcasts, is about to begin paying podcasters to convey movies to the platform. 

And after years of producers making an attempt to get audio exhibits 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. In consequence, video producers are determining make podcasts, and audio producers are determining make movies.

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

A lot of right now’s podcast studios appear to be residing rooms and basements. This isn’t a new phenomenon with discuss exhibits, however a variety of podcasts began out in a residing area, and bigger media firms have adopted that aesthetic. Lamps. Fireplaces. Pretend crops. Bookshelves. This atmosphere offers a extra “laid again” fashion of long-form interviewing, which is usually the vibe of most chat-style podcasts.

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

One other development I’ve seen are these picket 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 trying like a residing area. That is already seeking to be a signifier of mid-2020 video podcasts. 

With wide-shot digital camera angles showcasing all the room, there may be normally one thing in the midst of the display, like a TV or an enormous brand 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 lot of cursive lettering.

Branding is usually prioritized in video, and most producers assume which means actually trying on the brand for 2 hours. That is additionally a simple strategy 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 reach over the couches (these articulating increase stands have been staples in recording studios for many years). In consequence, the stands typically seem from out of the digital camera body and stick up broadly in entrance of visitors’ faces awkwardly. Poles protruding at varied incongruent angles look even messier when you’ve a number of visitors on separate chairs. 

Although new sorts of mic stands for podcasts have been launched to the market, many exhibits are ditching the lengthy, awkward increase poles in favor of getting hosts and visitors maintain their microphones as a substitute. This feels a bit extra genuine and intimate onscreen, and lots of stand-up comedians favor this technique. Nonetheless, it will probably get a bit awkward with inexperienced visitors who discuss with their palms or who don’t know maintain a microphone with a slim polar sample. 

It could actually get even worse. When podcasts are audio first however with a video element, you typically see awkward practices caught on digital camera, like this occasion the place every visitor is holding their cellphone as much as their face to file their audio whereas trying instantly on the viewer. It is a frequent follow 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 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 possible as a result of it’s more practical branding on vertically cropped movies than a giant brand on the wall in a studio.

Huge isolating headphones are frequent in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in a variety of video variations. However when visitors are distant and are trying 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 variety of video podcasts have appeared like by means of 2024. However how about subsequent yr?

I imagine that, in 2025, podcast producers will finally 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 masking individuals’s faces and go for smaller lavalier mics and in-ear displays. 

New audiences could begin to neglect in regards to the phrase “podcast” and consult with the chat exhibits they watch as simply “exhibits.” 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 exhibits 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 transferring 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 exhibits grow to be too expensive to maintain a video present operating a number of instances per week with no sturdy following. Possibly they’ll even cut back right down to an audio-only format. And maybe that’s the place they’ll restart a brand new experiment within the audio medium.