Spotify Technology SA (NYSE: SPOT) is the largest podcasting network by audience in the world. The platform recently added video support for all users in its latest foray to capture market share.
What Happened: Spotify quietly rolled out video features to all podcasters last week, according to TechCrunch. The platform now has more than 250,000 video podcast uploads, up from just 100,000 in 2023.
Previously, only podcasters whose content was hosted by Spotify were able to create video feeds for podcasts.
Why it Matters: Spotify is perhaps pigeonholed as specializing in audio, but the recent expansion of video on the platform could help the Stockholm, Sweden-based company compete with Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube.
"Video is becoming core to the global Spotify experience," Maya Prohovnik, Spotify's vice president of podcast product, told TechCrunch. "With the number of podcasters publishing videos on our platform growing nearly 70% over the past year, it's clear that video podcasts are resonating with users, and the appetite for video content has increased immensely across all of our major content categories on Spotify."
Joe Rogan, the most streamed podcaster in the U.S., has utilized video on Spotify in his long-standing partnership with the company.
SPOT Price Action: Spotify is up 1.22% at $313.18 Thursday at publication.