For a long time, trying to monetize a video podcast on Spotify felt like being locked outside a very exclusive party. The requirements were high, the process looked intimidating, and for a lot of smaller creators, it didn’t even feel worth attempting. That’s starting to change now, and in a way that could quietly reshape the creator economy over the next few years.
Spotify has announced that it’s significantly lowering the bar for podcasters who want to earn from video content on its platform. It’s not just a policy tweak, it’s a clear shift in how seriously the company is taking video.
Emmanuel Umahi
What the New Spotify Partner Program Thresholds Look Like
When Spotify introduced its Partner Program last year, the eligibility criteria were heavy. You needed at least 12 published episodes, 10,000 consumption hours within 30 days, and an audience of 2,000 engaged listeners over that same period. Those numbers were tough for new and mid-sized creators, and in practice, they shut out a huge portion of the podcasting community.
Now, the company is cutting those requirements down to three episodes, 2,000 consumption hours, and 1,000 engaged listeners in the last 30 days. That’s a massive difference. For many creators, those numbers suddenly feel reachable. It turns monetization from something distant and theoretical into something that could actually happen within months of launching a show.
How Video Podcasters Make Money on Spotify
The way creators earn through the program is also more flexible than traditional podcast ads. Instead of relying only on sponsorships, Spotify pays creators based on how many premium users watch their video podcasts, alongside a share of the ad revenue generated by free-tier viewers. In simple terms, if people are watching your show, you’re earning, whether they’re paying subscribers or ad-supported listeners.
This structure rewards content that people actually sit with and watch, rather than just download and skip through, which aligns closely with how modern audiences consume podcasts today.
Emmanuel Umahi
Why Spotify Is Betting Big on Video Podcasts
This shift isn’t happening in isolation. Spotify has clearly decided that video is now central to its future, especially as it competes more directly with YouTube for creator attention.
Alongside the new monetization rules, the company is introducing smarter sponsorship tools that will allow creators to update, schedule, and measure host-read ad spots within video episodes directly from the Spotify for Creators app and Megaphone. Those tools are scheduled to arrive in April.
At the same time, Spotify is launching a new API that allows creators to publish and monetize video podcasts using their existing hosting platforms. Services like Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny, and Podigee are already supporting this system at launch. The message is clear: Spotify wants to remove as many technical barriers as possible so creators can focus on making content, not managing platforms.
Video Podcast Growth Is Accelerating on Spotify
According to Spotify, consumption of video podcasts on the app has nearly doubled since the partner program launched. Even more telling, the average Spotify podcast listener now streams about twice as many video shows per month as they did before. Some of that growth likely comes from Spotify pushing more video content inside the app, but it still reflects a real shift in user behavior. People don’t just want to listen anymore, they want to watch.
This commitment to video isn’t only digital. Spotify is opening a new recording studio in West Hollywood, which will serve as a base for The Ringer network and selected creators in the partner program. It joins existing Spotify studios in Los Angeles, New York, Stockholm, and London, giving creators access to professional production spaces as the company deepens its investment in original content.
The Takeaway
Spotify is no longer experimenting with video, it’s fully committing to it. By lowering the monetization threshold so dramatically, the company is inviting a much wider range of creators into its ecosystem and giving them a real shot at earning sooner than ever before.
For podcasters, this moment matters. The barrier to entry has dropped, the tools are improving, and the audience appetite for video is growing. Spotify isn’t just competing with YouTube anymore, it’s building a parallel creator economy, and it’s opening the door for a lot more people to walk in.
Emmanuel Umahi
