Spotify has expanded video podcast distribution by enabling creators using several major hosting providers to publish video episodes directly to Spotify.
Libsyn, Podigee, Audioboom, Audiomeans and Podspace are now live with Spotify’s Distribution API, allowing podcasters to upload video content to Spotify through their existing hosting dashboards.
Eligible creators can also monetise those videos through the Spotify Partner Program, with further revenue options, including direct sales, planned for the future.
The move means podcasters do not need to change their hosting arrangements to take advantage of Spotify’s video tools, analytics and monetisation features.
Spotify says video remains a key area of podcast growth, offering creators more opportunities for discovery, audience engagement and income.
Later this year, Spotify will also add support for Apple Podcasts’ HLS video technology within Spotify for Creators and Megaphone.
That will allow creators hosting with Spotify to distribute video episodes to both Spotify and Apple Podcasts without changing their current setup.
Spotify says it also plans to support monetisation for video content distributed to Apple Podcasts, with more details to follow.
The company says creators will be able to reach audiences on both major podcast platforms while managing distribution and monetisation from a single workflow.
Spotify’s direct upload model for video differs from standard RSS delivery and is designed to support features such as engagement-based monetisation, real-time analytics, comments and polls.
If a creator later decides to stop publishing video, Spotify can convert the show back to an audio-only RSS feed while keeping previously published episodes available as audio.
