Bilibili vigorously develops video podcasts, integrating the richness of video form and the depth of podcast content, and exploring a unique long video “lite version” or podcast “pro version” model. Video podcasts still have the upper hand through various forms, such as video-based podcasts, podcast video versions, and viewable “podcasts”, so that “auditory language” still prevails, and “visual language” assists in content dissemination.
“Go to Station B to watch podcasts.”
This is the topic of Bilibili’s recent launch, behind this sentence, whether it is the promotion of high-quality content in culture, business, emotion and other fields, the entry of head podcasts such as Boring Zhai and Story FM, or the incentive and establishment of creator communities with UGC content, about video podcasts, Bilibili is ambitious in 2025.
The trend comes from across the ocean. In 2024, according to a report released by research firm Edison, YouTube has surpassed Apple Podcasts and Spotify to become the most popular podcast platform in the United States, and Joe Rogan’s single-episode video podcast interview with Trump has more than 54 million views on YouTube.
When video platforms begin to revolutionize everyone’s podcast listening habits, when podcasts are paired with the verb “watch”, like all the media that have been deconstructed and challenged in this world, it seems to have fallen into a certain identity crisis.
Under the wave of video, has traditional audio podcasts lost their essence? Is videoization an inevitable choice or a compromise? When more and more platforms and Chinese podcast creators also begin to embrace video, video podcasts, is it the survival of long videos or the second spring of podcasts?
01 Video podcast, or sound. MP4？
What is a video podcast? Is it a podcast that can be watched, or is it a podcast?
To this day, the concept of video podcasts is still not uncommon.
In fact, as early as 2023, Yu Jianjun, founder and CEO of the famous podcast platform Himalaya, shared his views, “Podcasts are not equal to niches, nor are they necessarily audio, podcasts are original content in all languages.”
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Closely following the core of “original language content”, video podcasts have developed into three different forms.
The first type is video-based podcasts, which use cameras to record the recording process of podcasts, and the form of such podcasts is mostly interviews or dialogues, presenting video effects similar to interview programs such as “Round Table Pie”, but more relaxed – simple lighting, simple setting, a few people, a table, and a few microphones are enough. This is also the typical and mainstream presentation form of video podcasts at present, represented by “Guan Yadi Open Dialogue”, he insists on using a camera to record the recording process in each episode. Even in the episode of “Open Dialogue” uploaded on Bilibili in March 2023, Guan Yadi discussed the topic of embracing video with the anchors of “Overclocking Dialogue” Ai Yong and Lao Yuan in the form of a video podcast, so that the form and content can resonate.
This form has a long history, many years ago in South Korea, this kind of live video podcast existed in the form of “visual radio” planned by TV stations, which was an important channel for artists to be exposed, and the representative works were KBS’s “KISS THE RADIO” and SBS’s “Two Points Escape”. Visual radio is also a recording process of directly filming the radio, each program has a fixed host to conduct interviews, and artists with publicity needs will participate in the live broadcast or recording of the radio.
With the distinctive characteristics of naturalness and relaxation, this type of visual radio also allows fans to watch, through the glass wall of the recording studio, fans can get close to idols, capture every tiny detail, it is not as far as traditional video program recording, the emergence of visual radio provides a close distance between artists and fans, just the right distance, making it a unique and important communication channel, long-lasting.
The other category is the video version of the podcast, which is different from the former, they are based on the traditional video production logic on the basis of podcast content to collage video materials, using video images as the argument of sound content, represented by the podcast channel “Breaking Heads”, their special content “Pheasant Music Review” released on Douyin is committed to analyzing popular hits in different periods and cultures, and the explosive content is about the inventory of the golden age of kpop, and so far it has been liked and commented on nearly 8w.
As their introduction – “Douyin Occasionally Carries Part of the Content”, this video podcast series was born from the podcast topic of the same name, on the basis of excerpts from the channel podcast content, the video supplements the relevant live stage and MV materials mentioned in the discussion of artists and songs, increasing the completeness of the content and the completion of the program.
Finally, there is the “podcast” that can be watched, which means that the podcast sharing function launched by Xiaoyu in 2024 is a video function, and users can choose to share the podcast in the form of a video to WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and other platforms for dissemination.
Compared with the above two types of video podcasts, no additional information is introduced, only the sound is converted into video, and mp3 is converted into mp4.
In an interview with Geek Park, the founder of Xiaoyu mentioned that in communication with many anchors, everyone believes that if they can make their own videos and distribute them on video platforms, they can help them expand their influence and help more people understand podcasts. Based on this, the seemingly simple function does broaden the communication channels of high-quality content with a win-win model that makes the platform and anchors the lowest cost, so that more people can see the good voice and the small universe.
All in all, analyzing the above three forms of video podcasts from the perspective of audio-visual language, it can be found that even if video is used as the carrier, in the context of podcasts, “auditory language” still has the upper hand, and “visual language” often plays an auxiliary role in content supplementation and distribution of materials, which is diametrically opposite to the current video viewing habits.
So why are more and more podcasters choosing to embrace video?
02 Video podcasts, or short video podcasts
Golden sentences have become the main material for the dissemination and distribution of video podcasts.
“Wenqing has admired people who have lived a mess since he was a child.”
“The people we listen to life advice are Kafka, Camus and Dostoevsky, isn’t this asking the devil to get the medicine list?”
The above is Cai Kangyong’s sharp comment on literary and artistic youth, from the Taiwanese podcast “The Library That Can Only Drink”, this video podcast program updated on Youtube is mainly in the form of interviews, each issue focuses on some topics closely related to contemporary life, inviting different guests and hosts to discuss and share together, this episode of Cai Kangyong’s guest is the 103rd episode of the program, called “I’m afraid that others will have a better time than me”.
Undertaking the sharpness of the title, whether it is the point of view itself or the form of expression, Cai Kangyong’s performance in the show is very topical and disseminated – he shares the most “ruthless” views in the most gentle tone, and points out the pain points of some literary and youth groups in the middle of conversation and laughter. Not surprisingly, the video clip in which he expressed his views was quickly screenshotted by the audience and uploaded to Xiaohongshu with different titles, which resonated and discussed, and contributed a number of explosive notes; On Douyin, the same content is distributed and disseminated in the form of video “slices”.
Compared with traditional audio podcasts, podcasts with video as the carrier undoubtedly have a greater amount of information per unit time, and Cai Kangyong’s expression and expression content constitute natural conflicts and contradictions, which are more in line with the fast and accurate communication logic of the short video era, attracting users’ attention and leaving potential audiences in a short period of time.
The platform’s algorithm can also distribute and accurately recommend video content more accurately. In addition to Bilibili, podcast programs recorded offline by stand-up comedians represented by “Comedian Chat Club” continue to spread live slices recorded by guests on platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, and the earliest release time can be traced back to 2021. This form of video is aimed at comedy lovers and fans of the guests, and most of the guests participating in the recording are actors and screenwriters with a certain reputation in the online and offline comedy circles, and they are good at adding icing on the cake to their comedy expressions through just the right movements and expressions.
Similarly, for comedy audiences, video podcasts are a supplement and addition to audio, and to some extent, they have become a “replacement” for offline performances.
The common video podcast exists in the form of a “short video podcast” condensed into the essence, which is mostly shorter than the regular podcast content, basically no more than half an hour, and is the “slice” that takes its essence after editing the second creation, and the “golden sentence” extracted from the long dialogue helps the program to efficiently expose and reach potential users, and guide it to the audio podcast to precipitate and convert.
The famous KOL Quan Xixi is accustomed to distributing the recorded content of each interview on the video and podcast platforms at the same time, adjusting the length of the content according to the attributes of the platform to achieve differentiated operations. She said in the introduction of the program “Quan Xi Xi” uploaded by Xiaoyu, “The video clip version of all platforms is 25 minutes each time, and the unedited version of Xiaoxu is updated for about 150 minutes, which is suitable for die-hard fans to enjoy.”
Just like Quan Xixi’s usual strategy in the first 5 seconds of her content – summarizing the guest’s story in one sentence and leaving the audience with the most catchy traits. In the era of video podcasts, condensed edited videos became the first 5 seconds of podcasts.
On the other hand, the average duration of the video podcasts promoted by Bilibili in this event is more than one hour, and the expression and presentation of content are closer to traditional podcasts. Taking Bilibili’s self-made video podcast “One Mai Sanlian” as an example, the program invites experts in various industries or head KOLs of Bilibili in the form of interviews to share each other’s views and opinions, so far the program has been launched for four episodes, with an average duration of 59 minutes and a maximum of more than one million views, with themes from life emotions, professional choices to economic situations, while achieving a balance of breadth and depth.
Considering the distribution and dissemination advantages of short videos, Bilibili also made an attempt, the channel uploaded a number of 1-3 minute video slices the day after the launch of the first program with the participation of Liu Qing, Luo Xiang and Mao Jian, with a text title version with a “sense of the net” to attract the audience, but the average play was 3,000, far lower than the 1.554 million of the video feature.
It can be found that the “video podcast” of Bilibili has embarked on a unique path, which combines the richness of video form and the depth of podcast content, and is a long video “lite version” or podcast “pro version” with unique characteristics of Bilibili’s video.
03 Listen, or “Don’t Listen”
“I listen to most of the long videos now, similar to podcasts.”
Below the notes of Xiaohongshu’s video podcast discussing the layout of Bilibili, some users commented.
In the past century, the technological innovation from “hearing” to “seeing” has led to the Renaissance from “seeing” to “hearing”. Nowadays, users who don’t want to, or don’t have time to “see”, choose to listen to videos and give up concentration, thereby freeing up some of their senses and attention, so that they can work multi-threaded in unit time.
Insight into the changes in viewing habits, Bilibili’s product function “listening to videos” caters to user needs, as long as you click the headphone button in the upper right corner of the video during the playback process to enter the listening mode, hide the video content, only keep the video cover and progress bar, and users can listen to the programs that are being played or recommended by the platform at any time. After all, podcasts are the victory of text, and in the listening scenario, they can spend more time polishing the text and strengthening their advantages.
The long video platform here is allowing users to hear the video, and the audio platform Xiaoyu has launched the “share as video” function to broaden the channels for podcast creators to be “seen”. However, when it comes to the platform’s production of “video podcasts”, Kyth, CEO of Xiaoyu, expressed a cautious attitude in the interview, recognizing the importance of video, but also needing to think carefully about the future of Xiaoyu about video.
In this way, both video and audio platforms have made some attempts and “crossovers” in each other’s fields as to whether it is “heard” or “seen”.
Whether it is to help anchors disseminate content or cater to users’ content consumption habits, whether it is watching podcasts or listening to videos, the purpose is to integrate the content depth of podcasts and the breadth of video dissemination, so that content and form can achieve a 1+1>2 effect.
“Let more people realize that the reception of Internet content can also rely on ears.” Just like Lao Yuan, the founder of the famous podcast brand “Podcast Commune”, said about video podcasts in his Xiaohongshu notes. The future of video podcasts represented by Bilibili is a win-win future for content and form, and perhaps a win-win future for creators and recipients.
This time, good content, use listening.
