Key Takeaways:
– Video is now the dominant podcast format, with younger audiences discovering shows through clips, thumbnails, and platforms built for visual storytelling.
– Sports video podcasts are exploding in popularity, attracting new demographics and driving major investments from platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
– AI-powered content creation tech enables scalable discovery, helping media companies clip, adapt, and distribute podcast moments across digital touchpoints.
Bill Simmons is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of sports media. Whether through his writing, digital innovation, or entrepreneurial ventures, Simmons has left a permanent mark on the industry. One thing, though, has remained beyond his grasp despite years of effort: a long stint on TV.
That could change in 2026. Spotify and Netflix recently announced a new partnership that would bring 16 video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer, the website and podcasting network that Simmons founded, to the streaming giant next year. Nine of the shows in the deal are sports podcasts, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, reportedly one of the most downloaded sports podcasts of all time.
For Netflix, this is just the beginning. According to reports, the streamer wants to have 50 to 75 video podcasts set for early 2026, underscoring the evolution of the medium. “What began as an audio-only medium has become a visual-first content format, essentially the modern-day counterpart to certain types of television programming that can also live in audio,” said Michael Calvin Jones, SVP of Digital Talent and Creators at talent agency Wasserman.
Where Audio Meets Video
The convergence of audio and video in podcasts is in full swing. A 2025 study by Cumulus Media, the second-largest radio broadcaster in the US, and Signal Hill Insights, a research firm specializing in audio, reveals that 72% of podcast consumers prefer podcasts with video, and 42% actively watch the video while listening to the show. Additional findings include:
– 34% of Americans listen to or watch podcasts for at least one hour every week.
– 19% of Americans are "heavy podcast consumers," meaning they listen to or watch podcasts for more than six hours a week.
– Continued interest in video podcasts keeps YouTube as the leading podcast platform in the US for the third straight year; 39% of weekly podcast consumers use YouTube the most for podcast consumption, compared to 21% who use Spotify and 8% who listen on Apple Podcasts.
– YouTube acts as a discovery engine: 44% of weekly podcast consumers who listened to a new podcast in the past 6 months found it on YouTube.
– 42% of weekly podcast consumers who have listened to/watched podcasts on YouTube say they have consumed a podcast on YouTube because of the thumbnail. In the 18-34 cohort, that number goes up to 57%.
Sports Pods Set the Pace
Sports shows have been at the forefront of the video revolution in the podcast space. Recent data released by Spotify shows that sports video podcast consumption on the platform has increased more than four times year-over-year, with a 53% quarter-over-quarter rise. The report suggests that the sports podcast market is growing across demographics, with female audience share surging 353% year-over-year.
Media companies have taken notice. Wondery, a podcast studio owned by Amazon, paid more than $100 million for exclusive ad-sales and distribution rights to New Heights, a video podcast hosted by NFL champion brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, and entered a multiyear deal for the Mind the Game series with LeBron James. Broadcast station owner Sinclair announced upcoming sports video podcasts in its Upfronts pitch to advertisers, following the success of The Triple Option and Throwbacks, which feature former NFL players.
“We’re getting to the point where the word podcast means something almost different from what it did years ago,” said Matt Schwimmer, the CEO of Playmaker HQ, home to video podcasts like Shaquille O'Neal's The Big Podcast and Jalen Brunson's and Josh Hart's Roommates. “It’s really a digital content series, for lack of a better term, and it’s video-first these days.”
The TikTokification of Podcasting
The transformation to a video-first medium has led to what some industry leaders call “the TikTokification of podcasting.” Surveys conducted by MIDiA Research, a UK-based intelligence company, found that 47% of TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts users watch podcasts via short clips. And since social media is now a key discovery engine for podcasts, the ability to clip and distribute them across these platforms has become critical.
As short-form content becomes the front door to podcasts, media organizations need tools that can keep pace. AI-powered content creation technology makes it possible to instantly identify standout moments, generate clips in multiple formats, and distribute them across every relevant channel. That’s how sports video podcasts break through the noise, and why 2026 might finally be the year Bill Simmons becomes a mainstay on (streaming) television.
Actionable Insights
– Design for video-first consumption: record podcasts and studio shows with visuals in mind – clean framing, multiple angles, personality moments – to maximize clip potential across platforms.
– Build a short-form clip pipeline: turn episodes into steady bursts of highlights, reactions, and quotable moments optimized for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels.
– Use AI-powered tools to scale distribution: automate clipping, formatting, and publishing so every episode generates dozens of platform-specific assets that drive discovery and new listeners.
