Amazon bets creator video podcasts can be the next TV network – if it can fix measurement

Amazon’s message to buyers was clear: video podcasts are no longer fringe, they’re the new home for talk formats. 

Angie More, head of revenue at Wondery, spoke to Digiday ahead of the Upfront about the company’s push to turn creator-led podcasts into full-blown franchises – and what it will take to convince brands to come along. 

Amazon believes that video podcasts are now competing for TV budgets rather than complementing them, and the company isn’t alone in that view.

Matt Barash, chief commercial officer at Nova Studio, told Digiday the format delivers the same qualities advertisers have historically turned to television for. “They generate long-form attention in an era dominated by short-form feeds, build habitual viewing patterns through episodic programming, and cultivate loyal audiences that return week after week with the same consistency of traditional network shows,” he said.

Lisa Herdman, chief enterprise integration officer at RPA, sees the rise of video podcasts less as a replacement for traditional TV and more of an expansion of social media platforms’ reach without sacrificing the performance advantages that are inherent to digital media. “We’re witnessing a convergence that combines the strengths of each medium,” she said.

Though the podcast industry has entered its video era (with Apple adding video to its podcast app in February), audiences are still catching up. Just 7% of listeners consume video-only podcasts, while 80% consume both audio and video, according to a Triton Digital Report. 

That hasn’t stopped creators from expanding the podcast horizon, however. More told Digiday that microphone and interview-style content aren’t the default anymore (she references an upcoming Jason Kelce show that will have him doing Jackass-style stunts). As such, there’s a need for platforms, creators, and brands alike to rethink how they define the space. 

“It’s evolving so quickly, and to keep up with it we have to make sure we’re following the trends,” More said.

She attributes the rapid growth of creator-led podcasts to the improvements in distribution over the last few years. “There’s just more platform investing here,” she said. Creators, she added, have been loudest in pushing Wondery and Amazon to help them build communities that span devices, entertainment formats and retail touchpoints. 

Naturally, Amazon feels it’s one of the few companies that can hit all those touchpoints thanks to its huge retail arm, podcast offerings and livestream platforms. 

More said brands (< can we name any?) have been regularly reaching out, looking to reach customers through a variety of mediums and platforms (including video podcasts) – and Amazon is working to increase those touchpoints. “We play with short and mid form on all the socials, which can be a discovery mechanism, but also are a way for a brand to integrate and catch different audiences, or catch people when they don’t have as much time in a shorter format,” said More.

Amazon also wants to build its creator-led podcasts into “360-degree franchises” that exist on a variety of platforms, plug into its retail flywheel at multiple points, and lean into IRL events.  More said she calls her team a “concierge service” because of the depth of those partnerships. “This is much more than a matching game,” she said.

But matching creators with advertisers is still a crucial component of the process, and Amazon recognizes where it needs to beef up its offerings in terms of measurement.

“The biggest thing we need to address over the next couple of years is measurement,” More said. “It’s hard to bring all the different experiences together, especially when you don’t own the platforms.”

There’s plenty of first-party data across Amazon’s own properties to share with brands, which can be compared with metrics gathered from the social media platforms where it encourages podcasters to post.

“A viewer might discover a creator clip on social, watch a long-form episode on YouTube via connected TV, hear the audio version on Spotify, and later convert through Amazon or a retailer,” Barash explained. “Brands are increasingly using identity graphs, retail data, clean rooms and multi-touch attribution models to connect those touchpoints into a single consumer journey.”

Amazon’s plan is to bring in more brand studies and encourage advertisers to think about the entire ecosystem. More said the company’s top 10 to 15 advertisers (< can we name the top two or three?) are starting to build out creative marketing teams to look at campaigns “more holistically.” 

“We’re on this journey to continue to make an ad more of a partnership experience and make it feel more fun and engaging,” More said. “I think you’re going to see that the ad quality is going to continue to get better and better.”

For More, the creator-led, video-focused podcast push is another example of creators trying to increase their visibility in a medium that fans flock to because it’s highly personal. A 2025 Podcast Pulse study from independent podcast platform Acast revealed that 79% of listeners choose podcasting as their content of choice because it feels “personal and like a one-to-one connection.”

RPA’s Herdman believes that video podcasts have the potential to bridge the gap between influencers and legacy media, and that pairing Amazon’s suite of offerings only strengthens the pitch to creators and brands

But Amazon only wants to work with creators that can behave like networks, not just sell individual slots of media inventory.

“The creators that want to get out there and be in more places and are visible…those are the ones that have long-term staying power because you have to continue to feed your community,” More said. “We’re really focused on the types of creators that don’t want to have just one show or one podcast…the ones that understand they have to be flexible.”