- YouTube creators are using podcasts to reinvent their images and reach new audiences.
- Video podcasts now resemble talk shows, and can help creators build new communities.
- These creators are monetizing with memberships, merchandise, and live shows.
Early-day YouTubers like Trisha Paytas, Tana Mongeau, Logan Paul, and many others are cashing in on the podcast boom by creating a new identity, audience, and brand.
Paytas, who built an audience of 5 million YouTube subscribers with personal vlogs from her kitchen floor and public feuds, has taken her career to the next level through her podcast “Just Trish,” for example. She signed last year with the Hollywood talent agency CAA and expanded her business with a merchandise line and cross-country tour. Mongeau, who rose to fame with her NSFW storytime videos, cohosts a podcast called “Cancelled,” which has helped reinvent her image and reframe her online persona as more relatable. And, Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast has both helped him stay relevant and establish a more mature audience.
Thanks to video, podcasting has taken on an entirely new meaning and is attracting more digital creators. Once a solo audio-only experience, today’s creator podcasts mimic talk shows. The boom in video podcasts has also grown YouTube into a top podcasting platform in the US.
“For existing YouTube creators, podcasting on YouTube gives them more tools in their creative tool belt,” Kai Chuk, YouTube’s head of podcasting, told Business Insider. “It gives them more flexibility to create in ways that hopefully make their lives easier.”
Podcasts have helped more creators expand their businesses and make money through memberships, touring, and merchandise.
For instance, Paytas, who posts video episodes of her podcast on YouTube, also publishes bonus content like extra episodes and reaction videos behind a Patreon paywall for her 46,309 paying members.
Many podcasts use a similar strategy, including “Pretty Basic,” which creates paywalled content for Patreon, “Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast,” which uses the creator startup Fourthwall, and the “H3 Show,” which has a tiered membership through YouTube.
‘The podcast was an opportunity for me to have a totally clean slate’
Lauren Riihimaki, who goes by LaurDIY on YouTube, initially built a kid and family-friendly following online with her viral crafting and DIY videos.
Riihimaki, 31, now hosts a podcast called “Wild ‘Til 9” with her husband, where the couple shares relationship advice and speaks about more mature topics like marriage and life in your 30s.
“I’ve been a creator for like 13 or 14 years,” Riihimaki told BI. “Part of how I’ve been able to sustain this career is by being flexible in the art of the pivot. I ended up with a very family-friendly audience with a younger demographic. Growing older, I no longer felt connected to the content.”
Podcasts are helping creators like Riihimaki engage audiences in new ways.
“The podcast was an opportunity for me to have a totally clean slate and a brand new audience,” she said.
Chuk said YouTube encourages podcasters to use tools that build community among their listeners, like going live, using its premieres feature that lets fans watch a new video together and chat in real time, and interacting in the chat.
“If you’re watching a podcast live, that’s a very different feel as an audience member than just clicking on something that’s been pre-recorded,” Chuk said. “You feel like you’re part of the experience.”
YouTube has also found that audiences tend to watch podcasts on their TVs and with friends. Last year, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices, tuning into podcasts similar to a late-night talk show, according to YouTube.
“People want to watch their favorite podcasts in the comfort of their living room,” Chuk said. “It makes sense. But that’s certainly something we didn’t expect three or four years ago.”
Podcasts open up more opportunities to make money, like with touring and merchandise
Alex Cooper might be the best example of an influencer who’s turned a podcast into a sprawling business empire. Cooper’s podcast company, Unwell Network, offers several shows, and she recently launched an electrolyte drink called Unwell Hydration.
For the average creator, there are several ways to monetize a podcast, from memberships and merchandise to live shows and brand deals. And the podcast format can open up more revenue streams than traditional YouTube videos.
For instance, podcasts are typically over an hour long, which makes them an easy format for a live show or tour. The longer the podcast, the more advertisements a creator can place. Unlike an average YouTube video, a podcast typically includes multiple ads sprinkled throughout the show and even product placement.
Some podcasts also have a distinct brand and a logo, which may make it easier to create merchandise around.
Creators don’t need to be Cooper-level famous to earn big from their shows, either.
TikTok star Jake Shane has taken his viral success to YouTube and Spotify with his podcast, “Therapuss,” where Shane interviews guests in a talk-show format. He’s spun his podcast success into a cross-country tour.
“It’s a unique medium that’s matured so much,” said Casey Adams, founder of the podcast agency Listener.com. “It’s very early still, in terms of what a successful business looks like on the back end of podcasting.”
On YouTube, Chuk said the company has seen a rise in new podcast genres like kids and sports. Recently, kids’ content studio Pocket.watch partnered with GoKidGo to launch music and mystery-led podcasts for kids with YouTube talent like Diana Kidisyuk and the creators behind the YouTube channel “GEM Sisters.”
“This is a brand and a channel that can create so much enterprise value if you do it right,” Adams said. “It’s not just let me get a mic and talk to my friend. It’s like a real business, a real brand.”
