What podcasts appeared like in 2024 — actually

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 to be able to acquire new listenership. The truth is, Spotify, a significant participant in podcasts, is about to start paying podcasters to convey 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 need 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 observed just a few creating traits 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 traits — after which I’ll speak about what I feel might develop over the subsequent 12 months or so.

Lots of right now’s podcast studios appear like dwelling rooms and basements. This isn’t a brand new phenomenon with discuss reveals, however loads of podcasts began out in a dwelling area, and bigger media firms have adopted that aesthetic. Lamps. Fireplaces. Faux vegetation. Bookshelves. This setting offers 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 quite a bit 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 comfortable chairs individually. 

One other development I’ve observed are these picket 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 entire room, there may be often one thing in the course of the display screen, like a TV or an enormous brand 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. Plenty of cursive lettering.

Branding is commonly prioritized in video, and most producers suppose meaning actually wanting 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 sometimes doesn’t crop effectively for vertical video).

Microphones are sometimes positioned on ground stands that stretch over the couches (these articulating growth stands have been staples in recording studios for many years). In consequence, the stands usually seem from out of the digicam body and stick up broadly in entrance of friends’ faces awkwardly. Poles protruding at numerous incongruent angles look even messier when you could have 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 an alternative. This feels a bit extra genuine and intimate onscreen, and lots of stand-up comedians desire this methodology. Nevertheless, it will probably get a bit awkward with inexperienced friends who discuss with their palms or who don’t know 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 document their audio whereas wanting straight on the viewer. This can be a widespread follow for radio interviews however isn’t nice when video is concerned.

The Shure SM7B microphones are nonetheless actually standard on this medium in addition to the funds 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 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 simpler branding on vertically cropped movies than a giant brand on the wall in a studio.

Large isolating headphones are widespread in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in loads of video variations. However when friends are distant and are wanting straight at their webcam, these giant ear cups stick out very awkwardly — extra so than if you happen to’re taking a look at somebody’s profile view. 

In order that’s what loads of video podcasts have appeared like by means 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 have been employed to assist make the transition to video will begin questioning the explanation for the massive headphones and thick microphones protecting folks’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 consult 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 transferring out of the studio and into barber retailers, 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 tools 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 develop into too pricey to maintain a video present working a number of instances every week with no 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.