So, do you need video for your podcast? For most business podcasts, my answer is yes. Absolutely. And it’s not only because video makes a better and more compelling podcast. It’s also because video makes your podcast much easier to find.
Audio-only podcasts are harder to find since they’re only available on podcast apps, which historically don’t have great search features and limited suggestion algorithms, which keep your show hidden from the vast majority of listeners. A video episode can live on YouTube, where it has a much larger chance of being served to your audience through their direct search results and viewing preferences. Plus, every video podcast episode can also produce a ton of vertical clips that carry your show onto Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. You can get all of this great, high value video content from just an hour in the studio.
I’m the co-founder of Record ATX, Austin’s most trusted podcast studio and content studio. So I’ll use my experience working with hundreds of clients to set up successful video podcasts to inform the info in this article.
What does video actually change?
Discovery. This is the big one. Audio-only podcasts are found by people already searching podcast apps for a topic. Video podcasts are found by people scrolling YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, X and other social media platforms who have never heard of you. If your goal is reaching new potential clients or becoming an authority in a niche, video can help your show grow bigger and faster.
Clips. A video episode is raw material for a ton of short, great looking video clips. An audio episode can’t do that. With video clips, you can reach new eyeballs across several platforms.
Trust. Your potential clients/audience seeing your face, your team, and the care you put into producing content builds credibility faster than your voice alone. For B2B especially, where people are often viewed as the product, that can really matter.
Nothing about the listening experience. Video doesn’t necessarily make your show sound better. It makes your show reachable by people who use YouTube and social media, and not only people who use podcast apps on their phones.
What about the cost?
The reason most people hesitate to do a video podcast is the assumption that video makes things more complicated, expensive, and time consuming. But that’s not exactly the case when you record in a studio built for video. The cameras are already there, everything is already lit, framed, and ready for you.
At Record ATX, a video recording session is $225/hr. That gets you the room, the engineer running all the gear you’ll need, and a basic edit. Most importantly, it saves you a ton of time and money you would have to invest to purchase your own video podcasting gear.
Where video does add cost is editing. Cutting a video episode plus a batch of vertical clips takes more hours than trimming an audio file, and that time and freelance editor costs can add up. But booking a studio that bundles video editing with recording, like we do, can save you time and money. Adding complete editing for a polished result is included with recording in the $350/hr tier at our studio.
If you do add video, do this
Record video from the start, even if you launch audio-first. Footage you didn’t shoot is gone forever; footage you shot and didn’t use can aid you in the future. The most common regret I hear is from people who launched audio-only, grew an audience, and can’t go back and make clips from their best early episodes.
Get the raw files. Camera angles and raw footage are what let you (or your team) cut new clips a year from now. Ask any studio you book what the standard deliverables are. At ours, raw files come standard at every tier.
Batch it. Recording three or four episodes in one session spreads the setup cost and gives you a month or more of clip material at once. It’s the single biggest lever on your per-episode cost.
FAQ
- Do podcasts need video to succeed in 2026? It depends on your definition of success.Video dramatically increases discovery, since it puts your show on YouTube and produces the short clips that reach people on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and other social platforms. For business podcasts aiming to reach new clients, video is worth it.
- Does recording video cost more than audio? Yes, but recording video in a studio can save you time and the cost of buying video equipment.
- Can I add video to a podcast I already record audio-only? Yes, starting with any future episode. But you can’t retroactively create video for episodes already recorded, which is why recording video from the beginning is worth it even if you don’t publish it right away.
- How many clips can you get from one video podcast episode? Typically 6–20 short vertical clips per hour-long episode, depending on how quotable the conversation is and how tightly the clips are cut.
- Do people actually watch video podcasts, or just listen? Most consume them as audio, but more and more people are watching full podcast episodes as video every day. The value of video isn’t that people watch the full episode on YouTube every time, it’s that video makes the show discoverable on platforms where audio can’t go.
