Every platform wants your video podcast
Look at the last few weeks of announcements:
- Apple said on September 23 that creators will be able to offer video through Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, "including subscriber-exclusive episodes, ad-free video, early access, and bonus content" (MacTech). That follows HLS video in Apple Podcasts, which launched this spring.
- YouTube announced "Your podcast lineup" at Made on YouTube on the same day: a weekly, AI-generated spoken preview of shows you might like. It also announced Custom Feeds, which let viewers build a homepage tab by describing what they want.
- Netflix has been streaming video podcasts since January, through a licensing deal with Spotify and The Ringer and exclusive deals like Barstool Sports.
- Spotify lowered the bar for its video Partner Program in January and says video consumption has doubled since the program launched.
- LinkedIn keeps expanding BrandLink, its revenue-share program for video creators and publishers, which now includes more than 100 of them (The Sauce).
At Podcast Movement in New York on September 17 and 18, Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster summed up the moment with a question: "What even is a podcast anymore?" His own answer for one of the new entrants: "Netflix ain't it" (Podglomerate).
A B2B company does not need an opinion on the future of podcasting. It needs to know where its next episode should go on Tuesday morning. That is a much smaller question, and the data makes it easy.
Podcasts are watched on YouTube now
Webster opened his Podcast Movement talk with a quiz. Asked which platform people use most for podcasts, the room guessed Apple. The answer was YouTube, with Spotify and Netflix completing the top three. Survey data from this spring shows how wide the gap is.
YouTube said last year it passed 1 billion monthly podcast viewers. The other half of the story is that audio did not go anywhere. The same spring survey found 92% of weekly podcast consumers still listen, and 38% now listen via a smart TV, up 19% in a year. Edison Research's Podcast Consumer 2026 put it neatly: 82% of weekly podcast consumers actively watch video, and 78% listen to audio only. Most people do both.
That is an argument for publishing the audio as well, not for skipping video. Five years ago you could make a case for an audio-only B2B podcast. Today it is hard to. If you are going to make a show, film it.
For a B2B show there is a second reason YouTube wins, and it matters more than audience size. YouTube is a search engine. Sports podcaster James Skrmetta put it plainly while reacting to Barstool's Netflix move: "What makes YouTube so great is that it's also a search engine. That's why discoverability for a content creator is so good" (James Skrmetta, 04:00). A buyer who types "how to prepare an FDA cybersecurity submission" into YouTube can land on your episode. A buyer on Spotify almost never searches that way. YouTube is also the second most-cited domain in AI answers, which we covered in how to get your B2B podcast cited by ChatGPT.
In our experience, two channels do most of the work for a B2B show: YouTube for the full episode, and LinkedIn for clips. Everything else comes after those two.
Platform by platform: what is open to a B2B show
The useful question is not "how big is this platform?" It is "can a B2B show get on it, and will the right people find the episode there?"
| Platform | How you get on | How people find you | Fit for a B2B show |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Open upload | Search, recommendations, and now prompt-built Custom Feeds | The home. Full episodes, chapters, captions |
| Spotify | Open upload through Spotify for Creators or your host | Personalized recommendations for returning listeners | Put the video there too. Audio arrives via RSS |
| Apple Podcasts | Audio via RSS. HLS video only through supported hosts | Recommendations and editorial curation | Put the video there too, through your host |
| Open native video. BrandLink revenue share is curated | The feed, driven by people your buyers follow | The clip channel. Second only to YouTube | |
| Netflix | Licensing deals only. No uploads | Netflix's own TV interface | Not available. Ignore it |
Spotify: put the video there too
Spotify runs video through the Spotify Partner Program, which pays creators from ads and, for Premium subscribers, based on how much they watch. Spotify's head of content partnerships, Jordan Newman, said the program's eligibility bar is "1,000 engaged audience members, 2,000 hours consumed over the past 30 days, and then three episodes all time", and that "we've seen video consumption on Spotify double" since it launched (Creator Upload, 16:00).
Those thresholds are reachable for a consumer show. For a niche B2B show with 400 of exactly the right listeners, they often are not, and platform payouts were never the point. What Spotify does well is repeat listening, and some of those listeners will watch. Your audio already lands there through RSS, so add the video as well. It costs almost nothing extra, and there is no reason not to.
Apple Podcasts: turn video on if your host already has it
Apple's HLS video launched this spring through a short list of hosting companies: "Acast, ART19 (an Amazon company), Triton's Omny Studio, and SiriusXM (including SiriusXM Media, AdsWizz, and Simplecast)" (Apple Newsroom). More hosts have followed, including Buzzsprout and Transistor. Apple takes no cut from creators. Instead it will charge ad networks "an impression-based fee for the delivery of dynamic ads in HLS video".
The older way to get video into Apple, MP4 files in your RSS feed, still works, but it usually means a second feed for the video version. On the Podnews Weekly Review, the hosts explained why that hurts: "all of the algorithms are set to only have one feed per show" (Podnews, 05:00). The practical rule: put the video on Apple too. If your host supports Apple's HLS video, switch it on. If it does not yet, your audio still reaches Apple through RSS, and you can add the video as soon as your host does.
Netflix: not a B2B channel
Netflix does not take uploads. Its podcast shelf comes from licensing deals: 16 shows from Spotify Studios and The Ringer, and exclusive deals like Barstool Sports, which moved the video of Pardon My Take off YouTube. The audience is also not your buyer. Webster described Netflix's podcast audience as younger, more diverse and more likely to have children than podcast audiences in general. No B2B company should spend a minute on it.
LinkedIn: where your buyers meet the people on your show
LinkedIn is not a podcast platform, and it does not need to be. It is where your buyers already pay attention to people. On The B2B Content Show, one of the hosts put it this way to the Notorious B2B team: "I've always found LinkedIn to be easier for building a personal brand and the other platforms easier to build a show brand" (The B2B Content Show, 12:00).
That points to the right use: short native clips posted from the host's and the guest's personal profiles, with the key line written into the post, linking back to the full episode. It is also a reminder that you cannot predict where a clip will take off. Notorious B2B's biggest hit, 2.9 million impressions, happened on Instagram, not LinkedIn.
This is how we run it for clients. We do not post full episodes natively on LinkedIn. We post clips, and in our experience LinkedIn does really well for B2B. After YouTube, it is the channel we would put the most effort into.
Hub, Clips, Feed: the B2B distribution stack
Put all of that together and a B2B show needs three layers, in this order of priority, not five equal platforms. We call it Hub, Clips, Feed.
Hub. The full episode lives on YouTube, with a question-shaped title, chapters and corrected captions, and on an episode page on your own site with the transcript. This is the layer that gets found: by YouTube search, by Google, and by AI answer engines. Everything else points back here.
Clips. The two or three best moments go out as native short video where your buyers scroll, LinkedIn first, posted from the personal profiles of the host and the guest, with the quote written into the post. We never post the full episode on LinkedIn. This is the layer that reaches people who have never heard of your show. It is also the one most shows underinvest in. (Our B2B clipping playbook goes deep on this.)
Feed. The episode goes out once through your podcast host and lands everywhere else: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon and the independent apps. Send the video as well as the audio. This is the layer that keeps loyal listeners coming back on their commute.
Should the video go on Spotify and Apple too?
This is the question we get most. Our answer is yes. Make YouTube the home, but put the video on Spotify and Apple as well. Why not? Here is the whole priority order on one screen.
Notice what is not on the chart: payouts. Spotify's Partner Program and YouTube's ad revenue program do not really matter for a B2B show. They matter to creators whose show is the business. For a B2B company, the show earns its keep through the guests it brings in, the buyers it reaches and the pipeline it influences. A platform that pays a few dollars per thousand plays is not a reason to add a workflow.
Worked example: one episode, one week
Here is what Hub, Clips, Feed looks like in practice for a weekly interview show. The recording happens once, remotely. Everything else is cutting and routing the same conversation.
| Day | Layer | What goes out | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Record | One remote interview with a named guest, video on | Riverside or a video call |
| Tue | Hub | Full episode with a question-shaped title, chapters, corrected captions, and the answer in the first two lines of the description | YouTube |
| Tue | Hub | Episode page with a 120-word answer, key quotes, chapters and the full transcript | Your website |
| Tue | Feed | Audio and video episode | Spotify, Apple and every app, through your host |
| Wed | Clips | Clip 1, the guest's strongest claim, with the quote written in the post | LinkedIn, from the host's profile, and sent to the guest to share |
| Thu | Clips | Clip 2 as a vertical short | YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels |
| Fri | Hub | Newsletter or article built from the episode, linking to the full video | Email and your blog |
| Next week | Clips | Clip 3, plus the guest's own post about the episode |
Two things make this work. First, every layer points back to the Hub, so attention compounds in one place instead of scattering across five dashboards. Second, the guest is a distribution channel. A clip posted by the guest reaches their network, which is often exactly the audience you want. We cover the full cut-down process in how to turn one episode into a month of content, and whether to film at all in video podcast vs audio-only.
Where B2B shows waste the effort
- Staying audio-only. Five years ago it was defensible. In 2026 it leaves you off the platform where most people now watch podcasts.
- Treating Spotify or Apple as the home. Neither is where B2B buyers search. YouTube is.
- Chasing Netflix or payout programs. Netflix is deals-only, and payouts are not a B2B business model.
- Posting full episodes on LinkedIn, or only from the company page. Post clips, and post them from the host and the guest. On LinkedIn, people outperform logos.
- No home at all. Clips that link nowhere, and full episodes without a page on your own site, waste the attention they earn.
- Judging every platform by the same number. YouTube should be judged on search and watch time, the feed on returning listeners, clips on reach and replies from the right people.
The platforms will keep announcing things. Apple will open more hosts, Spotify will adjust its program, Netflix will sign more networks, YouTube will add more AI to discovery. Hub, Clips, Feed does not change with the announcements. One home that search can find, clips that put your people in front of new buyers, and a feed that follows your listeners everywhere else. If you are building a show from scratch, start with our B2B podcast strategy guide.
FAQ
What is the best platform for a B2B video podcast?
YouTube. It is where the most people now watch podcasts, anyone can upload, and it works as a search engine, so a B2B episode can be found by the exact question it answers. In the Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights spring 2026 survey, 44% of weekly podcast consumers said they use YouTube most for podcasts, against 14% for Spotify and 5% for Apple.
Should a B2B podcast upload video to Spotify?
Yes. Make YouTube the home, but put the video on Spotify too, through your podcast host. It costs almost nothing extra. Spotify's Partner Program pays for video once a show has 1,000 engaged audience members, 2,000 hours consumed in the past 30 days and three episodes, but payouts do not really matter for a B2B show.
Can a B2B podcast get on Netflix?
Not realistically. Netflix does not accept creator uploads. Its podcasts come through licensing deals with large networks, such as the Spotify and The Ringer deal and Barstool Sports. A B2B show should ignore Netflix and put the effort into YouTube, its own episode pages and clips.
Does Apple Podcasts support video podcasts now?
Yes. Apple launched HLS video in Apple Podcasts in spring 2026 through a list of supported hosting companies, starting with Acast, ART19, Omny Studio and SiriusXM, and announced in September 2026 that video is coming to Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. Put the video there too: if your host supports it, turn it on.
Should a B2B podcast still be audio-only?
No. Five years ago there was a case for an audio-only B2B podcast. Today most people watch podcasts on YouTube, so a show without video misses the platform that matters most. Record video, publish the full episode on YouTube, and send the audio and video to Spotify and Apple as well.
Should I post full podcast episodes on LinkedIn?
No. Post clips on LinkedIn, natively, from the host's and the guest's personal profiles, with the key quote written into the post. We never post full episodes there. LinkedIn builds personal brands faster than show brands, and in our experience it does really well for B2B. Keep the full episode on YouTube and your own site.