The audience data supports it too, though not in the way people expect. Australians still listen to podcasts more than they watch them. But the gap is ten percentage points, the platforms have spent 2026 making one show work for both groups, and half of Australian podcast consumers have played a video podcast with the screen minimised. What follows is the evidence, the five situations where audio only is still the right start, and a simple way to decide.
Australians listen to podcasts more than they watch them, by ten percentage points
The Infinite Dial Australia 2026 report, published by Edison Research and Commercial Radio and Audio, surveyed 1,600 Australians aged 10 and over between 12 and 28 April 2026. It reports listening and watching separately, and that split is the most useful number in this whole debate.
| Monthly podcast behaviour, Australians aged 10+ | Share | What it tells a business |
|---|---|---|
| Listened to a podcast in the last month | 50 percent | Audio remains the larger habit |
| Watched a podcast in the last month | 40 percent | Video is no longer a niche. Four in ten Australians did it last month |
| Listened to or watched a podcast | 55 percent, estimated 12 million people | Most people do both, so the two audiences overlap heavily |
| Listened to or watched in the last week | 45 percent, estimated 10 million people | Weekly reach is close to monthly reach, which signals habit rather than trial |
Source: Infinite Dial Australia 2026, Edison Research and Commercial Radio and Audio. Base: total Australian population 10+. Read from the published report on 21 September 2026.
Listening and watching audiences overlap rather than compete
Fifty percent listen and forty percent watch, yet the combined figure is only fifty five percent. The arithmetic means the two groups are largely the same people using different modes at different times. A business choosing between them is not choosing between two audiences. It is choosing which moments of the same audience's week to be present in.
Half of Australian podcast consumers have played a video podcast with the screen minimised
This is the finding that should end most of the argument. Among Australians who listened to or watched a podcast in the last month, the report asked which types they ever consume.
| Type of podcast ever consumed | Share of monthly podcast consumers |
|---|---|
| Audio without video | 76 percent |
| Video, actively watched | 72 percent |
| Video, playing in the background or minimised | 53 percent |
Source: Infinite Dial Australia 2026. Base: Australians aged 10+ who listened to or watched a podcast in the last month, 55 percent of the population.
Fifty three percent have treated a video podcast as audio. That is the behaviour that makes video the safer recording format: a video episode reaches the people who want to watch, and it still works for everyone who puts the phone in a pocket or leaves the tab open behind their work. An audio episode reaches only the second group. Seventy two percent have actively watched one, and nothing recorded as audio can ever be offered to them.
Video podcasts are more likely to be finished in a single sitting
The report also asked whether people get through an episode in one session or spread it across several.
| Format | In one session | Spread over several sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Audio podcasts, base: ever listen to audio without video | 56 percent | 44 percent |
| Video podcasts, base: ever actively watch video | 64 percent | 36 percent |
Source: Infinite Dial Australia 2026, Podcast Listening Sessions.
Video gets watched more deliberately. Audio fits around other things and gets picked up again later. Neither is better in the abstract, but for a business the difference matters. A single sitting is where an argument lands whole, where a case study is heard from problem to result, and where a call to action at the end of the episode actually gets heard.
Audio still owns the commute and the car
The same study found that 55 percent of Australian podcast consumers most often listen or watch at home, with the car or truck next at 18 percent, followed by walking at 7 percent, at work at 7 percent, public transport at 6 percent and the gym at 5 percent. Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is now in 52 percent of primary vehicles for Australians aged 18 and over, up from 10 percent in 2019. In the car, every podcast is an audio podcast, whatever format it was recorded in.
Every major platform now lets one show serve listeners and viewers
Two years ago publishing both formats meant running two workflows. In 2026 the major platforms treat audio and video as modes of the same episode, which is the practical reason the old either or framing no longer holds.
| Platform | Share of Australian video podcast watchers who used it last month | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 89 percent | One billion monthly podcast users worldwide, and more than 700 million hours of podcasts watched on living room screens in October 2025, up from 400 million a year earlier | YouTube Blog, 18 December 2025 |
| Spotify | 47 percent | More than 500 million users have streamed a video podcast, growing about 50 percent year on year. Since April 2026 any user can switch video off and keep an audio only experience | Spotify newsroom, 9 April and 21 May 2026 |
| Netflix | 37 percent | Carries video podcasts, and more than a third of Australians who watched a video podcast last month used it for that | Infinite Dial Australia 2026 |
| Apple Podcasts | 27 percent | Announced HLS video in February 2026, with listeners able to switch seamlessly between watching and listening within the same show | Apple Newsroom, 16 February 2026 |
Platform shares from Infinite Dial Australia 2026. Base: Australians aged 10+ who watched a video podcast in the last month, 40 percent of the population. Respondents could name more than one service.
The two most recent changes are the ones that settle it. Spotify's new video controls let anyone turn video off and keep listening, and Apple's HLS video lets a listener move between watching and listening in the same episode. A video podcast on those apps is also an audio podcast. The reverse is not true on any of them.
A video recording degrades to audio, but an audio recording cannot become video
This is the core of the recommendation, and it is a production fact rather than an opinion about taste. Every video session produces a complete audio track as a by product. Strip the picture and you have the audio podcast, at no extra recording cost. Going the other way is impossible. An episode recorded as audio can be dressed in a static image or a waveform for YouTube, but it cannot be cut into a clip of a person making a point, and that clip is increasingly where discovery starts.
Spotify has put a number on that last point. When it launched podcast clips alongside the Spotify Partner Program, which opened in Australia on 2 January 2025, it reported that clips were 33 percent more effective than previews at converting browsers into potential listeners. Clips are short vertical video. They only exist if there was a camera.
So the decision is asymmetric. Choosing video and later deciding audio was enough costs a little extra effort on the day. Choosing audio and later deciding video mattered costs the entire back catalogue, because none of it can be clipped, and the show has to start its video presence from episode one regardless of how many episodes already exist.
Each format gives a business something different
| What a business needs | Audio only | Video, published as both |
|---|---|---|
| Presence in the car and on the commute | Yes | Yes, as audio |
| Presence on YouTube, where 89 percent of Australian video podcast watchers go | Only as a static image | Yes |
| Short clips for LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok | No | Yes, cut from the same recording |
| A face the audience comes to recognise and trust | No | Yes |
| Episodes watched in one sitting | 56 percent of audio listeners | 64 percent of video watchers |
| Recording setup | Microphones and a quiet room | Microphones, cameras, lighting and someone to run them |
| Editing | Audio edit only | Video edit, plus audio export |
| Pressure on the host | Lower, no camera | Higher, on camera |
The bottom three rows are the real cost of video, and they are why audio only is still a sound choice for some businesses. They are also rows where a production decision, rather than a format decision, changes the answer.
Audio only is still the right start in five situations
The strongest case for audio first comes from a hosting platform that argues against starting with video: lower barriers, less pressure about appearance, and more attention on the ideas. That piece dates from December 2023, before the platform changes above, and it cites no data. Its reasoning still holds in specific cases.
- The host will not perform on camera. A nervous host on video is worse than a relaxed host on audio, and a show built on someone who dreads recording will not reach episode twelve.
- The format is inherently audio. Narrative, documentary and sound led shows are designed to be heard. Pointing a camera at a narrator adds cost without adding anything a viewer wants.
- The audience is overwhelmingly in transit. Trade, logistics, field sales and regional audiences who consume in the car will rarely watch, and 18 percent of Australian podcast consumption happens most often in a car or truck.
- Guests are remote and spread across time zones. Remote video can work, but inconsistent webcams, lighting and connections produce video that undermines the brand more than audio would.
- It is a short internal test. A handful of episodes to test whether a format works before committing to a season is a reasonable audio only exercise, provided the plan is to switch before anything is published externally.
If none of those apply, the case for recording video is strong, and the question moves from format to production. Podcast studio vs home studio covers the five recording decisions that cannot be reversed afterwards, four of which concern video.
The business goal decides the starting format
| Business goal | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Building a founder or executive profile | Video | Recognition depends on a face, and clips are the distribution channel for personal profiles |
| Generating leads from a professional audience | Video, published as both | Clips travel on LinkedIn, and the full episode serves both the watcher and the commuter |
| Internal communications for a dispersed workforce | Audio, or video with audio as the primary release | Staff in the field or on the road consume in transit |
| Thought leadership in a technical industry | Video, published as both | Diagrams, demonstrations and whiteboards need a screen, and the audio still works in the car |
| Customer education and onboarding | Video | Showing beats describing whenever a product or process is involved |
| Storytelling, narrative or documentary | Audio | The format is designed to be heard |
Organisations weighing the internal row should read corporate podcast studio hire for internal comms teams, which covers approvals, confidentiality and the practical requirements of recording for a staff audience.
Konnect Studios records both formats from a single session
The practical objection to video is the three rows at the bottom of the comparison: more equipment, more editing and more pressure on the host. Konnect Studios, in the Parramatta CBD six minutes on foot from Parramatta station, is set up so that those rows stop being the business's problem. Teams record a video and audio podcast from one Parramatta session from $174 an hour on the Capture session, with video included as standard rather than as an upgrade.
| The cost of video | How a session at Konnect Studios handles it |
|---|---|
| Cameras and framing | Two Sony FX30 cameras record 4K on every session, framed and colour matched before recording starts |
| Lighting | A full lighting rig, set before you arrive. Low key and cinematic on The Vault, warm and natural on The Luxe, both inside one booking |
| Someone to run it | A dedicated studio operator sets the room up and runs the technology for the whole session, so the host only has to host |
| The audio podcast | Up to four Shure SM7dB microphones, each on its own channel, so the audio release is a clean, independently balanced track rather than a by product of the video |
| Angles and the edit | Blackmagic ATEM live switching cuts between cameras during recording, so the edit starts from a finished director's feed |
| Clips | Craft sessions, $774 for two hours, add the full episode edit, five reels and one teaser. Conquer, $1,149 for two hours, adds motion graphics and custom sound design |
Session details and rates read from the Konnect Studios podcast studio hire page on 21 September 2026. Up to four guests, Monday to Saturday 7am to 9pm, after hours by arrangement.
The outcome is one session, one video release for YouTube, Spotify and Apple, one audio release for the car and the commute, and a set of clips for the channels where the audience first finds you. What podcast studio hire actually costs in Sydney models what that works out to per finished episode rather than per hour.
Three questions settle the format in one sitting
- Will the host be comfortable on camera for a season, not just a pilot? If no, start with audio and revisit after ten episodes.
- Does the audience consume mainly in transit? If yes, audio is the primary release, though recording video still costs nothing in reach and keeps clips available.
- Does the business need to be found, or only to be heard by people who already know it? Being found in 2026 happens on YouTube and in clips, and both need video.
If the answers point to video and the next question is where to record, how to choose a podcast studio in Sydney sets out the three things to check before booking.
Questions businesses ask about audio and video podcasts
Should a business start with an audio or a video podcast?
For most businesses, record video and publish it as both. A video recording produces a complete audio track at no extra cost, while an audio recording can never become video or be cut into clips. Audio only is the better start when the host will not perform on camera, the format is narrative, the audience is mostly in transit, or guests are remote.
Do Australians prefer listening to or watching podcasts?
Listening is still slightly ahead. The Infinite Dial Australia 2026 study found 50 percent of Australians aged 10 and over listened to a podcast in the last month and 40 percent watched one, with 55 percent doing either. The two groups overlap heavily, so most people do both at different times.
Do people actually watch video podcasts or just listen to them?
Both. Among Australian monthly podcast consumers, 72 percent have actively watched a video podcast and 53 percent have played one in the background or minimised. That second figure is why video is the safer recording format: it works for viewers and still works as audio.
Where do Australians watch video podcasts?
Mostly on YouTube. Of Australians who watched a video podcast in the last month, 89 percent used YouTube, 47 percent Spotify, 37 percent Netflix and 27 percent Apple Podcasts, according to Infinite Dial Australia 2026. Respondents could name more than one service.
Can one podcast episode work as both audio and video?
Yes, and the platforms now support it directly. Spotify lets any user switch video off and keep an audio only experience, introduced in April 2026, and Apple Podcasts announced HLS video in February 2026 with seamless switching between watching and listening in the same show. Publishing the video version serves both groups on those apps.
Is a video podcast worth the extra production effort?
For a business that needs to be found, usually yes. YouTube reports one billion monthly podcast users, and Spotify reported that podcast clips were 33 percent more effective than previews at converting browsers into potential listeners. The extra effort is in cameras, lighting and editing, which is where a studio with an operator and live switching removes most of the burden.
Where do most Australians listen to podcasts?
At home, for 55 percent of Australian podcast consumers. The car or truck is next at 18 percent, then walking and at work at 7 percent each, public transport at 6 percent and the gym at 5 percent. In the car every podcast is audio, which is why a video podcast should always be published as audio as well.