Podcast consumption shifts toward connected TVs

Podcaster Tara Suwinyattichaiporn is among them. Last year, 14 percent of Suwinyattichaiporn’s 46,000 YouTube subscribers tuned into her Luvbites Podcast via connected TVs, with 69.7 percent watching via mobile, 9 percent via personal computers and 6.7 percent through tablets. In April 2025, Suwinyattichaiporn’s TV viewership percentage jumped to 23.5 percent on YouTube’s CTV app — a nearly 10 percent year-over-year increase — while her mobile viewership percentage plummeted to 56 percent.

“I used to think podcasts were just audio, so I didn’t really care about the visual part — but ever since I started doing a TV show here in the U.K., I realized there’s value in providing something visually appealing,” said Suwinyattichaiporn, who has helped host the reality TV show “Celebs Go Dating” on British TV broadcaster Channel 4 since 2023. “So I completely changed my strategy, and now make my podcast more like a talk show.”

She has done that by raising the production value of her podcast — renting an in-person studio space to record the show, rather than producing it via Zoom calls. She also said that she had intentionally published episodes more frequently and consistently in 2025. Although her podcast was already filmed, making the video visually appealing has now become a central part of her process, rather than an afterthought.

Currently, 46 percent of podcast viewers say that they watch on a smart TV — and often on 55-inch screens in their living rooms — according to a report published by podcast advisory firm Amplifi Media on April 22. Last year, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts per month on YouTube’s TV app, according to a February YouTube blog post. Those figures continue to track upwards in 2025, individual podcasters and podcast production companies anecdotally told Digiday.

FlightStory, the media and investment company behind popular podcasts such as Steven Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO,” drew 29 percent of its total YouTube views in 2024 through TV screens. FlightStory CRO Christiana Brenton told Digiday that the company’s TV viewership grew by 24 percent during that period — “faster than any other device.” So far in 2025, 12 million hours of FlightStory podcasts have been consumed on TV devices, according to a company rep, who didn’t provide a percentage of what that amounted to compared to other devices.

Typically, the TV encourages a lean-back experience, where people are likely to settle in and stay tuned, unlike on their phone, where notifications and distractions are constant. Brenton said that the average watch time of FlightStory podcasts on smart TVs was 25 percent longer than the average watch time of mobile listeners, although she did not provide exact figures.

Media company Sonoro has seen its share of TV podcast viewers rise to 22 percent in the first quarter of 2025, up from 17 percent in 2024, according to a company representative. Conversely, mobile devices’ share of Sonoro’s viewership dropped from 74 to 67 percent during the same period. The company, known for podcasts such as “Tales of the Night” and “No Hay Tos,” expects 25% of all its podcasts to be consumed via TVs by the end of this year — though a rep did not provide exact figures. 

“People are going back to TV, back to video, and it’s sort of like podcasters are becoming the new late-night talk show hosts — except it’s not late night, you can watch them wherever and whenever,” said Sonoro chief content officer Camila Victoriano. Sonoro’s podcasts have always included video, but the company is taking advantage of the rise of video podcasting to entice new talent in 2025, such as actor Christian Navarro, who launched his first podcast “Tales Unrolled: Alma,” on April 29, telling Digiday that the inclusion of video was one of the primary factors behind his decision to join the Sonoro project.

YouTube’s podcast push

Amid the evolution of podcasting from an inherently audio medium into a video native format, YouTube became the most popular podcast consumption platform last year. In February, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that TVs had surpassed mobile devices to become YouTube’s largest viewership surface by watch time. It’s also easier than ever for many smart TV owners to find and consume YouTube podcasts following the rollout of a dedicated podcast tab on YouTube’s Android TV app.

“One of the questions we ask podcast consumers is what device they use most often to consume podcasts, and the top three are generally the iPhone, an Android smartphone and a desktop/laptop computer — and generally in that order. Smart TVs are usually in fourth, and getting stronger,” said Sounds Profitable analyst Tom Webster. 

“Mobile devices continue to reign supreme for podcasting, but as an endpoint, smart TVs are growing, and for some podcasts — news podcasts might be an example — they might be quite important, indeed,” Webster said. “The growing implication of this for podcasting is for co-consumption. A podcast in the living room reaches potentially a lot more people than one in your headphones.”

Podcast creators are aware of the potential for extra attention that comes with TV consumption, and some are already investing in this beneficial framing to woo prospective advertisers. For example, FlightStory updated its podcast set earlier this year to create more opportunities for advertising inventory, sponsorships and product placement. The company cycled through a series of chairs to figure out which ones would create the most appealing image for TV viewers, and also plans to invest in large-scale digital screens that would allow FlightStory to switch up the backgrounds of its podcast sets at the press of a button, in addition to making it easier to display B-roll videos and other video footage during podcast recordings.

“If we create a set that’s more visually appealing for the audience and the consumer, it’s going to be more effective for our brand partners as well, so those two are inextricably linked,” Brenton said.

Victoriano said that the growth in Sonoro’s TV viewership has allowed the company to present “a more compelling offer” to advertisers, creating more advertising inventory options beyond the traditional ad read, such as dedicated sponsored segments in which podcast creators display or use a product. Ogilvy director of connections and performance strategy Jesse Echeverría agreed with this assertion, telling Digiday that many of his clients have recognized the rise of video podcasting over the past year — and are starting to value the format more highly as a result.

“I think it does speak to the value of the advertisement placement, from a TV perspective,” Echeverría said. “If it’s on TV screens, or via YouTube, we are seeing that help [podcasts] become less of a tactical consideration and more of a strategic one, where the inventory has a bit more of a premium feel.”