A study conducted by Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights claims nearly a third of those who consider themselves podcast listeners prefer to “actively watch” a podcast with a video component.
While 43% said they prefer to listen to podcasts with only audio, 28% said they actively watch the video version of the show. Men are more likely to prefer the video option with 62% saying they’d prefer to have a video component compared to 57% of women. 55% of those who prefer to watch podcasts prefer YouTube, while 18% said they watch podcasts on Spotify.
Heavy podcast listeners, those who spent 6 or more hours a week listening or viewing, were more likely to prefer video than audio only.
However, the results are promising for podcast advertisers with the results showing podcast listeners are more attentive to advertisements than linear television viewers. A separate study by Cumulus Media found that 61% of television ads are shown to viewers who are either looking at a second screen or are not in the room while the ad is displayed on the television. 69% of podcast watchers said they had their eyes on the screen for podcast ads either some or most of the time.
