What podcasts regarded like in 2024 — actually

In 2024, podcasts have gotten nearer to turning into a video-first medium. Although video podcasts have been round a relatively long time, exhibits from The New York Occasions, NPR, and plenty of different podcast networks which have been audio-only for years have lately began including a video element with the intention to achieve new listenership. In reality, Spotify, a serious participant in podcasts, is about to begin paying podcasters to deliver movies to the platform. 

And after years of producers making an attempt to get audio exhibits 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. Because of this, video producers are determining find out how to make podcasts, and audio producers are determining find out how to 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 system that works, others are going to attempt it. Let’s check out present design and tech developments — after which I’ll discuss what I feel could develop over the subsequent yr or so.

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

Couches and comfortable chairs present up so much on these video exhibits. The spherical desk has been ditched, and leisure is vital — it’s much more comfy 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 seen are these wood 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 seeking to be a signifier of mid-2020 video podcasts. 

With wide-shot digital camera angles showcasing the whole 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 stylish proper now as a result of they add a colourful glow to a extra muted studio area. Plenty of cursive lettering.

Branding is usually prioritized in video, and most producers suppose meaning actually wanting on the brand for 2 hours. That is additionally a simple solution 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). Because of this, the stands usually seem from out of the digital camera body and stick up broadly in entrance of friends’ faces awkwardly. Poles protruding at varied incongruent angles look even messier when you’ve gotten a number of friends on separate chairs. 

Although new sorts of mic stands for podcasts have been launched to the market, many exhibits 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 plenty of stand-up comedians favor this methodology. Nevertheless, it may get a bit awkward with inexperienced friends who discuss with their palms or who don’t know find out how to maintain a microphone with a slender polar sample. 

It might get even worse. When podcasts are audio first however with a video element, you usually 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 wanting immediately 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 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 basic radio studio microphones. That is possible as a result of it’s more practical branding on vertically cropped movies than an enormous brand on the wall in a studio.

Massive isolating headphones are frequent in radio and podcasts and are nonetheless utilized in quite a lot of video variations. However when friends are distant and are wanting immediately 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 quite a lot of video podcasts have regarded like by means 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 rationale for the massive headphones and thick microphones masking folks’s faces and go for smaller lavalier mics and in-ear screens. 

New audiences could begin to overlook in regards to the phrase “podcast” and discuss with the chat exhibits they watch as simply “exhibits.” 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 exhibits 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 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 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 exhibits develop into too expensive to maintain a video present working 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.