Spotify is reducing the barriers to entry for creators to make money from video podcasts, which could expedite its move into YouTube’s territory. The company’s partner program is now accessible to shows with as few as three published episodes, at least 2,000 consumption hours and a minimum of 1,000 engaged listeners in a rolling 30-day period — down from the thresholds it required before: 12 episodes, 10,000 hours and 2,000 engaged listeners.
The payout model is still a hybrid: money based on the number of premium subscribers who watch, plus a cut of advertising sold against free-tier viewers. By lowering the bar, Spotify is telling the market it would prefer to have a fatter pipeline of video-first podcasts and mid-sized creators feeding its catalog, as opposed to just having the marquee names.
What changed in Spotify’s video podcast program and why it matters
Three shifts stand out. First, the new thresholds significantly reduce the ‘time to monetization’ for emerging channels. Now, a creator who hits 2,500 watch hours and 1,500 engaged viewers can qualify quickly; they would have fallen short under the old rules. The second, lesser number of episodes allows season- and narrative-bent formats that are not published as regularly to join the fold. Third, the pivot toward video metrics underscores the bet Spotify is making that viewers, not just listeners, will help drive the next wave of podcast ad growth.
Spotify says that consumption of video podcasts on its app has almost doubled since the partner program began, with the average podcast user watching about twice as many video shows per month as previously. Some of that lift will surely come from heavier promotion in feeds and recommendations, but the signal here seems pretty evident: video is going to be a core surface for podcast discovery and monetization within Spotify’s ecosystem.
New Tools for Sponsors and Publishers on Spotify
In addition to the eligibility updates, Spotify is launching sponsor tools that give creators the ability to change, schedule and measure host-read placements in video. That flight control and reporting — accessible through the Spotify for Creators app as well as the Megaphone suite — would bring podcast operations more in line with what video-first advertisers are used to, from frequency capping to more informed attribution.
But more important, Spotify is also releasing an API that enables hosting platforms to feed video podcasts directly onto Spotify while monetizing the content. Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny and Podigee are among the podcast hosts that are supporting the integration at launch. For studios and networks, this cuts workflow friction: no more redundant uploading or handoffs to coordinate multiple video feeds. It also simplifies the process of “multi-homing” streams across platforms without losing data or monetization.
The Competitive Picture With YouTube for Video Podcasts
Video podcasts continue to call YouTube “home” by default for search advantage and Partner Program payouts. YouTube is a leading destination for podcast consumption in the U.S., found Edison Research, which suggests audience behavior blurs lines between talk video and traditional podcasts. Spotify’s move is a differentiated flywheel: subscription-backed viewership, podcast-specific ad tech and close integration with RSS-native tools through the new API.
If Spotify can demonstrate stable CPMs on video inventory and clearer measurement on host reads, it gives creators leverage. They can spread risk beyond a single platform, hedge algorithmic risk and bundle sponsorships that traverse both audio and video with centralized reporting. The IAB is predicting further growth in podcast ad dollars, as brand and direct-response buyers both start to experiment with video-enabled formats — precisely the budgets Spotify is targeting.
What Creators Should Watch as Spotify Expands Video Monetization
Eligibility is just the starting line. Since payouts are based in part on premium views, shows that drive watch time among subscribers will see the greatest upside. That plays to formats that have visual hooks — on-screen demos or guest reaction shots or chaptered segments — and a regular cadence, because you can train the algorithm. And strong metadata and thumbnails are also important, as is clear demarcation of sponsor segments, to enable accurate measurement.
So expect publishing strategies to be shaped by the API. Networks can keep a single source of truth for episodes, sync video variants with different audio feeds and A/B test whether creative trims are actually working without having to reengineer workflows. And for independent creators, that lower bar means it’s now feasible to cross-post a syndicated show onto Spotify early in its life cycle, collect performance data, then determine where to double down.
Studios And The Video-First Production Push
To seed additional premium video, Spotify is launching a West Hollywood studio that will serve as the base of operations for The Ringer’s work and some partner creators. It joins facilities in Los Angeles, Stockholm and London as it looks to bridge the production gap between audio-only teams looking to move into video-native shows.
That throughline, of course, is pretty thick: lower thresholds to get more creators in the door, better tools for turning sponsors into converts and pipes that make video distribution easier. If Spotify is able to maintain this audience growth without driving earnings into the ground, video podcasts could be a second engine of its creator economy — one that competes over workflow and clarity of monetization as much as raw scale.
