Something is missing from the discussion around podcasting’s pivot to a video medium instead of an audio one. It’s not that the Pivot to Video already has a Wikipedia page that shows it was a failed and crippling play from a decade ago; it’s not that people like audio-only content too and there’s no reason to scrap it; it’s not that this is a must-10x-at-all-times tech company play so Spotify can keep consuming. All of that is true, but it’s not what I’m talking about. There’s a lot we can do as an audio-only medium that video can’t.
It’s easier to show you what I mean. Amanda and I recorded two intro segments for our podcast Attach Your Résumé. These intros are contemporaneous housekeeping: after one of us interviews someone about their digital job, the other person listens to the interview and prepares an observation to foreground it for the audience. We also do a call-to-action and say anything else that we want the listeners to know.
For this recording, where we prepared to do two 5-minute intros, we decided to turn a camera on in the studio to show what it would look like if we didn’t cut anything. That would reflect what we lose when we go from audio into video. The cuts on video are much more obvious, meaning it's more distracting to cut small mistakes than it is to keep them in. So when you record video, you don’t, and can’t, edit out the small bits that make high-quality podcasts sound effortless and interesting (especially because our editor Mischa is really, really good at it.)
So here it is, warts and all:
You watched it? Here are some things I noticed when I watched it back:
I act differently when a camera is on me! I’ve been thinking about this ever since the Ringer, under Spotify’s directive, has made almost all of their shows into YouTube channels. And their core hosts, many of which started as bloggers and became podcasters, are thrust into videodom. And I’ve noticed their tone is different! They’re more self-conscious, they’re wackier, they lean on political jokes, their kids, or LA excursions and go-to topics when they feel like someone hasn’t spoken in a while. And man, didn’t I do the same thing when I was on camera! I felt self-conscious when I was perceived visually after podcasting without it for so long. Maybe I’ll be more comfortable after a while, but abruptly turning the video on when it wasn’t on before changed my behavior.
I totally forgot I was going to be on video, so I dressed for the gym. Amanda did not forget this fact and put on a full face of makeup. I feel like I’m in a Gender Studies 101 textbook.
Communicating information in a tight window is hard. Our camera was perched on a monitor that we keep in the studio, so we were looking at the notes that we had drawn up for these two intros. We wanted to get it right, so I’m glad we took retakes of things that I thought didn’t work. And only having to retake some things, and not the entire segment, is a real boon for audio-specific editing. If this was going to be a video podcast, we would have had to choose between starting over from scratch or making a noticeable cut.
Honestly, I don’t want to be a YouTuber. That’s why I became a podcaster. We do record video for some shows at Multitude, but only for clips that we share on social media. Releasing the full video of a podcast recording feels like encroaching on a different medium, a medium I never wanted to do. I love how connected podcast fans are to their shows, I love how they listen when they’re doing something else, and I love the surprise they have when they see my face on a TikTok video or at a live show. And I’ve been on the Internet long enough to know YouTube is not some Internet Elysium field that the hot-take podcast artists, the tech disrupters, and the big companies are making it out to be. That was the reason why Jack Conte started Patreon--his music videos made no money with Google AdSense. Talk to any YouTuber, and they hate the grind and the changing algo and the fact that any viewer is two steps away from You Won’t Believe These 5 Pheromones to Woo the Trad Wife Of Your Dreams! Why do we want to dive into this wholly-different-and-filled-with-its-own-distinct-problems pool when we have our own not-perfect pool here?
What else did you notice about the video? Listen to the Dr. Claire Aubin and Akoto Ofori-Atta episodes; did we sound better after editing? Did I look cute? Tell me about it on Bluesky or don’t; podcasts don’t have a comment section and I love that.
-Eric Silver
Head of Development, Multitude