Some people like to listen to discussions, ourselves included. There’s something…relaxing about listening to two learned people discuss something interesting before switching over to Joe Rogan’s podcast to be reminded how he definitely shouldn’t allow some of those guests to spew their garbage on the air. But while listening to a podcast can be enjoyable, some folks prefer to use both ears and eyes to appreciate the show going on before them. If that’s the case, you’d usually head over to YouTube for the video cut of a podcast rather than just listening to it on Spotify. That’s something the music streaming app wants to correct.
Podcasts have seen a surge in popularity on Spotify so it makes sense that the app would open itself up to even more potential listeners (viewers?) by soon enabling video streaming of the shows that offer it. The ability to stream the video of a podcast will be made available to both free and premium subscribers and will work on the mobile and desktop versions of the app. Soon everyone will be able to watch stuff on Spotify!
There are some weird restrictions around it, such as being unable to turn off video while in the app and the inability to download the video alongside the audio. Having said that, if you close the app, the video will stop streaming while the audio continues to play, alleviating those excessive data costs. It’s really weird that you’re unable to turn off video in the app. One can only hope that Spotify eventually adds a toggle option for that feature.
Not every video-based podcast will have the option to stream video in the Spotify app but the ones that currently support it include “Book of Basketball 2.0,” “Fantasy Footballers, “The Misfits Podcast, “H3 Podcast,” “The Morning Toast, “High Learning with Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay,” and “The Rooster Teeth Podcast”. Undoubtedly, if the feature is a success, more will be added to the line-up.
(Source: Spotify)