Why Your Video Podcast Isn't Going Viral
The answer has nothing to do with your audio.
Happy NBA Trade Deadline Day, and welcome to the 23 (!!) new subscribers since my last few posts re: why TikTok should be banned in the US and why I shouldn’t have been banned on Reddit. In honor of today’s flurry of transactions, if you know anyone who might value today’s piece, feel free to pass it around as though it were P.J. Tucker or Dennis Schröder1.
I want to start off by sharing an instructive TikTok that came across my FYP recently:
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The text hook reads, “Waiting for a shot longer than one second”, with the bottom text: “American TV catering to extreme ADHD viewers only”.
And here’s the money insight, coming from one of the top liked comments on the post:
This is especially relevant because seemingly every audio “podcast” has made a hard pivot to video in the last year or two.
The hosts have turned their personal Instagram and TikTok profiles into clip factories.
More crucially, they are uploading their hour-long video episodes to YouTube.
The cameras are on, and the episodes are posted in full.
The problem is, these people are not “posting YouTube videos”.
They are uploading video files of their audio-first podcast recording.
Not only is this a fundamental misunderstanding of how a podcast audience prefers to engage with its preferred medium (audio only), these shows are not optimizing their content for native platform discovery on visually-oriented mediums like YouTube.
If your eyes glazed over while trying to decode that last bit, let me try again:
I’m reminded of a common refrain heard while I was still working at TikTok, frequently repeated by our ad sales team, as they advised brands on their organic content strategy.
“Don’t make ads, make TikToks”.
I think a similar slogan should be instituted for podcasts.
“Don’t upload video files to YouTube, make YouTube videos.”
Here is the basic question every video podcast creator needs to ask:
Why would someone watch this show instead of just listen to it?
By definition, video is a bisensual medium.
No, not the spiritual healer you met in Bushwick last weekend.
What I mean is that a video engages both sight and sound.
Contrast this with the (hitherto) audio-only medium of podcasting.
If you’re already in my AirPods while folding laundry, walking the dog, working out, or commuting, why would I instead open YouTube to watch you lead a Zoom meeting?
When we choose to watch something, we’re not typically doing what we’d normally do while listening to something.
When we’re watching a YouTube video, we’re more likely:
At home, on our couch, in full “second-screen” mode, scrolling on our phone while the “big screen” plays something passive in the background.
At work, on a lunch break, watching a few clips for 10-20 minutes.
In transit (with service), looking for something engaging to pass the time.
This is a meaningfully different context than podcast listening—and it’s something the vast majority of these “video podcasts” are missing the mark on.
Let’s be blunt: Most video podcasts add nothing to the viewing experience.
There’s minimal editing, minimal dynamism, and minimal effort to create an engaging product.
In turn, they receive minimal views, minimal growth, and minimal revenue generated.
If your audience is supposed to be actively watching, give them a reason to watch.
The best video podcasts use:
A multi-camera setup (wide shot, guest close-up, and host close-up). This allows for constant cuts between each angle in the edit to keep the energy alive.
An interesting set (optimal lighting, textured background) that visually draws you in. The whole appeal of a podcast is that it feels like we’re hanging out with you. If you’re going to add a video component, you should make it feel like we’re there.
Graphics, B-roll, and reaction shots to highlight key moments. This also requires the talent to play to the camera a bit more. It’s a far more difficult skill to be good in front of a camera vs. good in front of a microphone. Face for radio, and so on.
Bold, high-contrast thumbnails and curiosity-driven titles to bring in a new audience via each individual episode, rather than coasting off consistently reaching the same, subscribed users. These factors contribute to the high variance in YouTube views vs. podcast downloads on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). The floor is lower, but the ceiling is higher.
The best shows implementing these elements aren’t reinventing the wheel— they’re just applying basic principles of visual engagement.
But the keyword there is SHOWS.
Other than the last bullet point, every single one of these principles are similarly exemplified by any compelling talk show on CNN, Fox, or ESPN.
The names of these formats have changed, but the formats themselves have held relatively constant.
“Thumbnails” are the new billboards.
“Text hooks” are the new headlines.
All that’s changed is that monosensual podcasts (AKA, Radio) are evolving2 into bisensual, “video podcasts” (AKA, Talk Shows).
Which brings me back to that TikTok of the American TV show.
We tend to associate this quick-cutting editing style with YouTubers like Mr. Beast.
But if you turn on cable TV, you’ll see that this isn’t just a “TikTok” thing, or a “Gen-Z” thing, or an “American” thing, as the video claims.
It’s an everything thing.
Everyone has a megaphone in their pocket in 2025. But unless you shape your message correctly, you’re not amplifying your voice—you’re just making noise.
If you’re making a video podcast, you’re not just competing with other podcasts—you’re competing with everything else on the internet.
So don’t just hit "upload."
Make something worth watching.
Because right now, ESPN isn’t just airing live coverage of the NBA Trade Deadline – they’re slicing it into platform-native content for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube. Every reaction from Stephen A. Smith, every ridiculous take from Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson– it’ll all be repurposed for each medium.
And your videos are competing with theirs. And SNL’s. And Joe Rogan’s. And Michael Jordan’s career highlights. And the cutest freaking dog you’ve ever seen. And professional YouTubers in every vertical who have been in this space for 15+ years.
And when a viewer is presented with these options on their home feed, or scrolling past them on their FYP, they’re going to linger on whatever feels like it belongs there.
That’s the game.
And the best players don’t just talk – they know how to get heard.
Who somehow got moved again in the process of writing this.
(or devolving)
Good point. Well made.