Podcast publishers may get more engaged audiences on Spotify than YouTube, according to new benchmarking data from Podstock.
The analytics company says a single Spotify stream generates, on average, one and a half times more consumption time than a YouTube view of the same podcast episode.
Podstock analysed thousands of full-length video podcast episodes released on both Spotify and YouTube and compared performance over the first 30 days after publication.
In 95% of episodes studied, Spotify audiences spent longer with the content than viewers on YouTube. Podstock says this suggests Spotify streams may be a stronger signal of audience engagement and potentially more valuable to advertisers.
Michael Paretzky, Chief Executive Officer of Podstock, said: “Today, Spotify streams are a more valuable indicator of fandom and advertiser value than YouTube views.
“But that’s only half the story. Time spent is incredibly valuable for understanding engagement with your core audience, but it often moves in the opposite direction when you’re investing in growth.”
The report found that as episodes are exposed to larger and less familiar audiences, average time spent per stream or view tends to fall.
New listeners are more likely to sample content before deciding whether to continue, which reduces average listening or viewing time even as total reach increases.
That pattern helps explain the small number of episodes where YouTube outperformed Spotify on time spent, as some shows experienced discovery spikes on Spotify that brought in many first-time listeners.
Andy Hodgson, Chief Financial Officer at Goalhanger, said metrics such as average view duration and time spent offer a clearer picture of audience behaviour across platforms.
Podstock said the findings highlight the need to interpret time spent alongside reach and distribution metrics as podcast companies expand across audio and video platforms.
