Spotifys Pitch to Creators: More Ways to Monetize Video Podcasts

Spotify is making an even bigger play for video podcasting and creators as the company makes it easier to monetize on its platform.

The audio giant is broadening the eligibility criteria for the Spotify Partner Program, which gives certain podcast creators payouts based on their engagement, and partnering with independent podcast hosting platforms such as Acast and Audioboom to allow their shows to monetize their video podcasts on Spotify.

The Spotify Partner Program provides payouts based on video engagement on Spotify premium, as well as from ads on the Spotify’s free accounts. The threshold to apply will be lowered to allow creators with 1,000 engaged audience members, 2,000 hours consumed over the past 30 days and three published episodes to apply to the program, which launched a year ago for larger podcast creators.

In the past, monetization of video podcasts on Spotify had only been possible if the show’s catalog was hosted on Spotify’s Megaphone or Spotify for Creators. Now, per the announcement, shows from Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny and Podigee will also be able to monetize video on Spotify, with more partners to come.Creators will also soon have more control over sponsorship campaigns.

These moves, as well as the announcement of Spotify Sycamore Studios, an upcoming podcast and video production hub for The Ringer podcasts and select creators, come amid a big push by Spotify toward video podcasts.

Monthly video podcast consumption on Spotify has nearly doubled since launching the creator program last year, according to the company.

Among the recent moves, Spotify announced a partnership to bring select Ringer podcasts to Netflix starting this month. As part of the deal, episodes will be available on both platforms, with The Bill Simmons Podcast kicking off the partnership with a live episode on Netflix that’s later available on both platforms. Roman Wasenmüller, Spotify’s vice president of podcast and video, also noted a partnership with Samsung TV, and more to come.

Asked how the company will keep users on Spotify given the outside distribution of the podcasts, Wasenmüller, said the moves were made to allow creators flexibility and that “audiences will figure out” which platform to watch on. He added that he views the Netflix audience as “incremental” for creators.

Amid the big video push, YouTube looms large as the most popular podcasting platform. Asked how Netflix views the video behemoth, Wasenmüller said he believed more competition in the podcasting space will help fuel growth.

“Ultimately, what made Spotify succeed over the last two decades is to always prioritize the consumer and creator connection. So whenever we find a combination that is a win-win for those two sides, that’s what we’re going to invest in, independent of who the competitive set is here,” he said.

“When you think about the stages of where categories have grown the most, it’s actually always in times where there’s the most competition and the most players entering the space. And as it has been true for music streaming, it has been true for podcasting at scale. I think what’s exciting to me is to see that podcasting really had one of its fastest growth years in 2025, so net-net, the ecosystem is growing. There’s more players in the mix. So that’s the good outcome for everyone here,” he added.