Abstract

The definition of podcasting is shifting (Rime et al. 2022; Bonini 2022; Berry 2022) and as a medium constantly in flux the term is constantly being interpreted and re/mis-interpreted by users, creators, and corporate interests. Recent data shows that YouTube has become a leading destination for podcast discovery and consumption (Edison Research n.d., 2025; Oxford Road and Edison Research 2025), suggesting that many users a podcast is something that we watch.

This shift poses questions for educators about how (and if) we pivot into this space. This is a move away from the independence that podcasting once offered us as an audio medium that can be created using relatively simple tools (Boehm et al. 2025). Video podcasts now demand dedicated sets, lighting, graphics, and the complexities of video editing software. It draws upon the introduction of video to a podcast studio the experience of students and other users of using the space. It reflects on whether the shift from audio to video represents fundamental changes in what is possible but also how we plan for and execute such work. This connects with an ongoing project to support podcasting on an institutional level, incorporating feedback from that activity.

This paper seeks to challenge assumptions that video is a desirable trend, as it may push us into creating more performative, less intimate, less crafted, and technically more complex work. I also pose the question of to whether these trends represent an enshittification (Doctorow 2025) of the medium that serves the interests of platforms but ultimately creates a poorer pedagogic, consumer, or educative experience.

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Bonini T (2022) ‘Podcasting as a hybrid cultural form between old and new media’, in The Routledge companion to radio and podcast studies, Routledge.
Doctorow C (2025) Enshittification: why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it, Verso Books, London, UK.
Edison Research (2025) The Infinite Dial 2025, Edison Research, https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-infinite-dial-2025/, accessed 2 April 2025.
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Oxford Road and Edison Research (2025) ‘What is a podcast’, https://oxfordroad.com/whats-a-podcast?redirect, accessed 3 April 2025.
Rime J, Pike C and Collins T (2022) ‘What is a podcast? Considering innovations in podcasting through the six-tensions framework’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 28(5):1260–1282, doi:10.1177/13548565221104444.