Video Podcast Statistics 2027: YouTube, Spotify and Who Watches
By Kris Reid ·
Video podcast statistics for 2026 show a medium split almost evenly between watching and listening. In Edison Research’s Q1 2026 data, 78% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers watch video podcasts and 80% listen to audio-only shows. YouTube is the platform they use most (40% in Q3 2026), YouTube reports over 1 billion monthly podcast viewers worldwide, and Spotify says over 500 million users have streamed a video podcast.
Most “video podcast statistics” pages repeat the same platform split without a source or a date. Every figure below traces to Edison Research (now part of SSRS), YouTube or Spotify, with the date it was published and what it actually measures. For the full listening picture, see our sourced podcast statistics for 2027.
What are the key video podcast statistics for 2027?
The key video podcast statistics heading into 2027 come from three publishers: Edison’s surveys of U.S. consumers, and YouTube’s and Spotify’s own platform data. Survey numbers describe U.S. people. Platform numbers describe each company’s global users. Keep the two apart.
| Statistic | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. weekly podcast consumers who watch video podcasts | 78% | Edison Podcast Metrics, Q1 2026 (published June 2026) |
| U.S. weekly podcast consumers who listen to audio-only podcasts | 80% | Edison Podcast Metrics, Q1 2026 |
| Americans 12+ who have both listened to and watched a podcast | 57% | Infinite Dial 2026, surveyed January 2026 |
| Weekly consumers who use YouTube most often for podcasts | 40% | Edison Podcast Metrics, Q3 2026 (published October 2026) |
| Weekly consumers who use Spotify most often for podcasts | 17% | Edison Podcast Metrics, Q3 2026 |
| Monthly podcast viewers on YouTube, worldwide | Over 1 billion | YouTube, as of January 2025; repeated May 2026 |
| Hours of podcasts watched on YouTube on living room devices | Over 700 million in October 2025 | YouTube, December 2025 |
| Spotify users who have streamed a video podcast | Over 500 million | Spotify, May 2026 |
How many people watch video podcasts instead of listening?
Video podcasts and audio podcasts now reach about the same share of the U.S. podcast audience, and most people use both. Edison’s Podcast Consumer 2026 report, published June 4, 2026, asked U.S. weekly podcast consumers age 13+ whether they ever watch or listen to podcasts in each format.
| Period | Listen to audio-only podcasts | Actively watch video podcasts |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 89% | 73% |
| 2024 | 84% | 76% |
| Q3 2025 | 78% | 82% |
| Q1 2026 | 80% | 78% |
Video passed audio-only for the first time in Q3 2025, then the two swapped back in Q1 2026. The fair reading is “neck and neck,” which is how Edison describes it. The same report says 66% of weekly consumers listen most often at home and 13% in a vehicle (Q1 2026), which fits a medium that is increasingly watched on a screen.
Edison’s Infinite Dial 2026, a January 2026 survey of 2,050 Americans 12+, found that 57% have both listened to and watched a podcast. In the last month, 36% did both, 15% only listened and 7% only watched. Edison changed its question in 2025 from “listened to” to “listened to or watched,” so compare the 2025 and 2026 figures with each other, not with older years.
Which platform do most people use for podcasts?
YouTube is the platform U.S. weekly podcast consumers use most often for podcasts, and its lead has grown. In Edison Podcast Metrics for Q3 2026, published October 7, 2026, 40% chose YouTube, 17% Spotify, 9% Apple Podcasts and 3% Netflix, which ranked seventh.
| Quarter (published in) | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (Podcast Consumer 2026) | 31% | 28% | 14% |
| 2025 (Podcast Consumer 2026) | 36% | 22% | 13% |
| Q4 2025 (Infinite Dial 2026) | 39% | 20% | 11% |
| Q1 2026 (Podcast Consumer 2026) | 37% | 21% | 12% |
| Q3 2026 (Edison weekly insight) | 40% | 17% | 9% |
A different Edison measure, Share of Ear, looks at time rather than preference. In Q4 2025, YouTube had 32% of daily podcast listening time among Americans 13+, Spotify 25%, Apple 20% and everything else 23%. So YouTube leads on both measures, but by less on time spent.
What does YouTube’s 1 billion podcast viewers number measure?
YouTube’s figure counts people worldwide who watched content YouTube classifies as podcasts in a month, measured with YouTube’s own data. YouTube first announced “more than 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content” in February 2025, footnoted “as of January 2025,” and repeated “over 1 billion monthly active users” in a May 28, 2026 post.
What the number does not tell you:
- It is global. It cannot be set against Edison’s 167 million U.S. monthly podcast consumers.
- It does not define a viewer. The posts don’t say how long someone must watch to count, or exactly which videos count as podcasts.
- It has not moved publicly since January 2025. The May 2026 post restates the same threshold rather than a new count.
YouTube’s other recent numbers point the same way. Viewers watched over 700 million hours of podcasts on living room devices in October 2025, up from 400 million hours a year earlier, according to YouTube’s December 2025 recap. And YouTube Premium users, including trials, watched over 800 million hours of podcasts globally in April 2026.
How big are video podcasts on Spotify?
Video podcasts on Spotify are growing fast by Spotify’s own count. At its May 21, 2026 Investor Day, Spotify said more than 500 million users have streamed a video podcast, up nearly 50% year over year. In its Q3 2025 earnings remarks in November 2025, Spotify put the figure at more than 390 million users and said it had almost 500,000 video podcast shows.
Spotify also lowered the bar for creators to earn from video. In January 2026 it cut the Spotify Partner Program’s thresholds to 1,000 engaged audience members, 2,000 hours consumed in the last 30 days and three published episodes. In September 2026, it said video shows in the program had grown consumption hours by more than 45% on average since launch. These are Spotify’s own figures, published to attract creators, so treat them as company claims rather than audited data.
What do video podcast statistics mean for a real estate agent?
Video podcast statistics tell an agent to record on camera, publish everywhere and treat YouTube as a search engine for the show. You don’t have to choose between formats. One recorded conversation can become a YouTube episode, a Spotify video, an audio feed for Apple Podcasts and short clips for social media.
YouTube also behaves like a search engine, which suits agents whose clients search by neighborhood and question. Our guide to YouTube SEO for a real estate video podcast covers titles, chapters and descriptions. For where podcasts fit among reels, tours and listing videos, see our video marketing guide for realtors.
Video does add work: lighting, two camera angles, editing and clip cutting. If that is the part you’d rather not do, you can hand the editing, publishing and promo clips of your show to a real estate podcast production team. Where the format is heading next year is covered in our podcast trends for 2027.
Sources
- The Podcast Consumer 2026, Edison Research at SSRS (accessed October 10, 2026)
- The Number 1 Podcast Platform, Edison Research at SSRS (accessed October 10, 2026)
- The Infinite Dial 2026, Edison Research at SSRS (accessed October 10, 2026)
- New YouTube Premium features podcast fans will love, YouTube Official Blog (accessed October 10, 2026)
- Drop the mic: Celebrating 1 billion monthly podcast users on YouTube, YouTube Official Blog (accessed October 10, 2026)
- How podcasts took over the living room in 2025, YouTube Official Blog (accessed October 10, 2026)
- Spotify Levels Up Our Podcast Experience With New Features for Fans and Creators, Spotify Newsroom (accessed October 10, 2026)
- Q3 2025 Earnings Call Prepared Remarks, Spotify (accessed October 14, 2026)
- Making It Easier for Video Podcasters to Earn on Spotify, Spotify Newsroom (accessed October 14, 2026)
- The Spotify Partner Program Expands to More Than 35 New Markets, Spotify Newsroom (accessed October 14, 2026)
Frequently asked questions
Are video podcasts more popular than audio podcasts?
Among U.S. weekly podcast consumers they are roughly even. Edison found video overtook audio-only in Q3 2025 (82% vs 78%), then the order flipped back in Q1 2026 (78% watch video, 80% listen to audio-only). Most people do both.
How many people watch podcasts on YouTube?
YouTube says more than 1 billion people a month watch podcast content worldwide, a figure first given as of January 2025 and repeated in May 2026. For the U.S., Edison's Q3 2026 data shows 40% of weekly podcast consumers use YouTube most often for podcasts.
Do I need a video podcast as a real estate agent?
Not to start, but record on camera if you can. Video lets the same episode appear on YouTube, where many listeners now go first, and gives you clips for social media. An audio-only show still suits the 80% of weekly consumers who say they listen to audio-only podcasts.
Founder & CEO, Ardor SEO; Co-Founder & CEO, Icons of Real Estate
Kris Reid founded Ardor SEO in 2010 after a career in software engineering with major banks. He co-founded Icons of Real Estate, a podcast network for real estate professionals, and has been a guest on more than 100 podcasts.