Michelle Obama’s new podcast series is bang on trend.
It’s not so much the content – a chatshow with the sort of A-list guests you’d expect from the well-connected former US first lady – but rather how it is being delivered to waiting fans.
Produced by Higher Ground, the production company she founded with husband Barack Obama in 2018, IMO, short for “in my opinion” is released in both video and audio formats.
Those who prefer to listen to their podcasts, who typically plug in their earphones and head out for walk, can get it on the usual audio digital platforms.
But for people who want not just to hear what Obama is doing now, but also see what she’s like when she’s doing it, there’s YouTube, because IMO is also released in video format.
Podcast as video is a trend that’s not just growing fast, it’s changing the podcast industry.
In the US, nearly two-thirds of podcast listeners say they prefer shows with a video component, according to a December survey from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights.
And the streamers are stepping up to deliver, by making podcasts more visible on their sites and expanding supports to podcasters who also want to make video.
In 2024, the average daily streams of video podcasts on Spotify increased by more than 39 per cent compared with the previous year.
More than half of the top 20 podcasts on the streaming platform have video, including the wildly successful and influential The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy.
There are now more than 250,000 video podcast shows on Spotify – up from 100 in 2023 – and, according to its own figures, more than 170 million users have watched a video podcast on the platform.
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In the US, where the podcast market is more mature, nearly a third of podcast monthly active users watch instead of listen, while globally it’s a little less, at one in four.
A measure of how creators have followed the market is that in 2024 the number of podcasters publishing video each month on Spotify grew nearly 70 per cent.
“With podcasts, the video format can add an additional layer of authenticity and connection for fans,” says Jordan Newman, head of content partnerships at Spotify, explaining why consumers want to see their favourite podcast presenter and not just hear them.
“Audience retention increases when creators add video and every creator wants a loyal, highly engaged fan base that keeps coming back.”
And that line at the end of most podcasts – asking listeners “to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts” – is instructive when research released last October by Edison Podcast Metrics is considered.
It found that just over a third of weekly podcast listeners in the US chose YouTube as their preferred service, followed by Spotify at 27 per cent and Apple Podcasts at 15 per cent.
Those numbers would appear to indicate that Google’s move to consolidate users on to one platform has been a success.
In mid-2024 it completed the phase-out of Google Podcasts, its app created in 2018. That followed its announcement that it intended to double down on making YouTube the go-to destination for podcasters.
Last year Google announced that its video behemoth had reached a milestone with more than one billion monthly viewers for podcast content worldwide.
“Podcasts with video are more than just a trend, they meet audiences where they are: on YouTube”, it said, noting that 400 million hours of podcasts had been watched monthly on the platform.
“This milestone underscores how YouTube has come to play an essential role in podcasting for creators and audiences, and how our investments to improve the podcast experience on YouTube are paying off,” the company said in a statement.
Obama’s star wattage will likely encourage fans to watch IMO – including those who use the platform anyway and who may not realise it’s a podcast or even consider themselves interested in podcasts.
IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson will address “everyday questions shaping our lives, relationships and the world around us”, according to a press release. The format sees a star guest turn agony aunt as they field a listener question, using their own life experience to give advice.
Guests slated include filmmakers Seth and Lauren Rogen; soccer star Abby Wambach; author Glennon Doyle; media mogul Tyler Perry; actor Tracee Ellis Ross; Airbnb boss Brian Chesky and psychologist Dr Orna Guralnik.
The first two episodes of IMO were released together, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday.
Obama has a co-host, her older brother Craig Robinson, a big name in the US basketball coaching world, and it is recorded in a smart-looking apartment – a rental for the show. The first episode is a getting-to-know-you introduction to Robinson. Michelle Obama needs no introduction.
The pair chat about growing up, family dynamics and difficulties they faced in their lives and touch on Obama’s reluctance to support her husband in his White House bid – a subject already well aired in her memoir, Becoming.
Episode two sees the pair chat to writer, actress and producer Issa Rae about maintaining adult friendships.
And if Michelle Obama is on trend when it comes to how IMO will be delivered, as a video podcast, it’s the same when it comes to promoting her new production.
On Thursday she appeared at SXSW in Austin alongside her sibling to record a live episode – another growing offshoot of the podcast world.
