Spotify ventures into video podcasts with new test

Photo by Ashley Carman / The Verge

Spotify is testing a new video podcast feature in its app. It's using YouTube stars' Zane Hijazi and Heath Hussar's Zane and Heath: Unfiltered as its testing ground. According to a source close to Spotify, the global test will be showing up for 50% of the show's podcast listeners. It's available on three recent episodes (28 through 30), but there doesn't seem to be a visual cue to let the testers know that the podcast episode comes with a video. Even with the video playing, you can still lock your phone and continue listening to the audio of the podcast, which might be appealing to some users.

As The Verge reports, listeners will see the video footage at the bottom of their screen when they play the episodes. To see it in full screen, they can tap on the video. The experiment is still in its initial stages, but the source claims it is likely to come to more podcasts soon and "fast." The feature will be useful for programs from Spotify-owned The Ringer since the network uploads video podcasts like The Rewatchables to YouTube already.

Spotify testing the feature with a podcast from YouTube stars makes it seem like the company is specifically targeting the Google-owned streaming service. Some podcasters do post their video recordings on YouTube to benefit from YouTube's recommendation algorithm when they cut up parts of their shows into searchable clips. It isn't clear yet if the videos on Spotify will show up on Google search or elsewhere online. But for Spotify to get this feature off the ground, alerting people of its presence will need things like being on Google search.

Spotify hasn't commented on the development of the feature yet. It told The Verge, "At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience. Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don't have any further news to share at this time."