How to Repurpose a Podcast to YouTube

How can you successfully repurpose a podcast to YouTube?

This is a question that we get asked all the time.

Podcast = audio. YouTube = video. Are they really a match made in heaven?

The short answer is – yes! It can work, and it can work really well...but there are different approaches, and it depends on your goals, plus how much time and budget you can commit.

If you have a podcast, then of course you want to get your episodes in front of as many relevant people as possible. This is especially important for podcasts created by B2B businesses (like The Content 10x Podcast).

Your podcast is a form of content marketing, so you want to do everything in your power to reach your target audience.

YouTube is a fantastic solution for expanding your reach, after all, it’s the second largest search engine in the world. And, according to a study by the University of Florida, YouTube is the number 1 podcast listening platform for 18–54-year-olds.  

Many podcasters are finding creative ways to get their content on the platform through repurposing. But how do they do it? And what are the best practices to follow?

For over 3 years, we’ve been repurposing podcasts to YouTube for our clients. We’ve seen what works, and what doesn’t work. So, I’m sharing my years of experience, the dos and don’ts, and showing you how to repurpose a podcast to YouTube.

Listen to the podcast episode below or read on for more…

How to repurpose a podcast to YouTube and expand your reach

Repurposing your podcast is all about expanding your reach, having a bigger impact and growing your audience.

You’ve worked hard to launch your show and produce fantastic podcast episodes. The next step is to get it found and heard. Ahhh, the “podcast discoverability” issue that we hear people talk about a lot. 

It’s not enough just to upload your episodes to your podcast host. Sure, this puts it on all the podcast apps, – e.g. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher – but your content could expand its reach much, much further.

Podcast apps provide a way for people who know about your show to listen to it. But the likelihood that you’ll grow your audience by just uploading episodes to the podcast apps is slim.

You’ve got to market your podcast, and an effective way to do this is to repurpose your content.

There are lots of ways that you can repurpose your podcast episodes, it’s something that I’ve created a lot of content about. Check out How to Repurpose a Podcast on Social Media and Epic Podcast Repurposing.

I’ve been podcasting and blogging for over 3 years and I’ve created a lot of content about podcast repurposing, so just head on over to my blog and podcast page to find out more. There’s an entire chapter in my book dedicated to podcast repurposing too.

Why repurpose a podcast to YouTube?

Now, you might be thinking, “Why repurpose a podcast to YouTube? It’s not a podcasting platform!”.

But in actual fact, it is.

If you consider that a “podcasting platform” is a place where people consume podcast content, then it can be any platform that hosts podcast content.

I think most people would be surprised at just how many people go to YouTube to look for and listen to podcasts. According to The Verge, a survey of Canadian adults found that 43% of people listened to their podcasts on YouTube in 2019.

Secondly, if your podcast uses both video and audio, then you’re creating content in both mediums anyway. So, it’s not so much of a headscratcher to work out why podcasts work on YouTube. If you record your full podcast as a video, then you’d call it a video podcast.

There are a lot of podcasts available to watch (and listen to) on YouTube. In fact, some of my personal favorite podcasts are actually video podcasts available on YouTube. For example:

The Jordan Harbinger Show

With over 2 billion monthly active users on YouTube, it’s no surprise that people want to get their content on there. If you repurpose your podcast to YouTube, in theory, you can start tapping into that potential.

And we must remember that YouTube is a search engine ­– the second largest search engine in the world, second only to Google (which owns YouTube!).

This can mean more visibility for your podcast. You might find new listeners who stumbled upon your video via a search on YouTube or Google, or simply because your video gets recommended by the algorithm (lucky you!).

Therefore, repurposing a podcast to YouTube allows you to reach not just a bigger audience, but an entirely new audience who may not even know what a podcast is. Your podcast will never get in front of that audience if it stays on podcasting apps alone.

If you can bring your podcast to a platform people enjoy engaging with, and in a format that they prefer, it stands a fighting chance of getting noticed.

Repurposing vs. reposting

I’m a bit fussy when it comes to the definition of repurposing…especially when we’re talking about repurposing a podcast to YouTube.

One way to get your podcast onto YouTube is to have a static image, with an animated waveform, and the audio plays over this. This is called an audiogram.

Many podcast hosts will allow you to do this automatically every time you upload a new episode to the host. It’s simply one more destination to post your episode too.

I do not consider this to be repurposing. I consider this to be reposting.

To me, repurposing needs to be platform-specific and creative. I always say that repurposing is never, EVER, copy and paste.

In this instance, that’s exactly what you’re doing. There’s no consideration for the new format, new platform, new audience...etc.  That’s why I call this reposting, not repurposing.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with doing this if you just want to have content on YouTube. If you are strapped for time, have a limited budget, or YouTube just isn’t a priority, then by all means it’s better than doing nothing. If you automate this process, then it’s hardly a big imposition.

But as the saying goes “you get out what you put in”. So, don’t expect to grow a big YouTube channel, don’t expect massive results, and don’t call yourself a “YouTuber”!

I’ve written before about other ways to get your podcast content onto YouTube when you only have an audio file – check out my post 5 Ways to Repurpose Your Podcast into Video. But these involve a bit more work.

For example, you could create a short trailer of the episode by sharing a few sections of audio with changing static images to make it more visually appealing. The intention is to get them interested in listening to the podcast vs. consuming your full podcast on YouTube.

In this post, I’m going to focus on when the camera is turned on and we have video footage as well as audio. This could be an in-person or remote interview, or it could be a “talking head”, thought leadership style video with just one or two presenters. These are the most popular types of video podcasts that we work with at Content 10x.

How to repurpose a podcast to YouTube: the dos and don’ts

To help you get started with repurposing your video podcast to YouTube, here are my best practice dos and don’ts.

Don’t: upload the entire video podcast episode as it is

If you repurpose with the content format and platform in mind, then you probably won’t want to upload your entire video as it is to YouTube. This may be okay in some instances, but in most, it’s not the best approach.

You really need to think about what you can do to develop the most efficient production process possible. These processes should help you consistently create both a great video and a great podcast.

How do you do this? Well...

Do: make platform-friendly edits

Think about what podcast elements might not be necessary for YouTube. Do you really need your intro?

It’s well-known that a whopping 20% of users will stop watching a YouTube video if it hasn’t hooked them in the first 10 seconds. So, when you repurpose a podcast to YouTube, skip the intro and dive right into the core message.

Or, better still, edit. Have a recording format where some sections will be included only in the video, and some only in the podcast. Even if this means recording alternative sections. Or, record audio-only sections to slot into the podcast when editing it together (that’s what I tend to do).

Something that many of my clients have found confusing when starting a video podcast is not really knowing who they were talking to.

“Am I talking to my podcast listener…should I ask them to subscribe and leave a review?”

“Am I talking to my YouTube viewer…should I ask them to and hit that subscribe button, turn notifications on, and leave a comment below?”

My recommendation is to record two separate outros if you can. This way you can speak to both audiences appropriately, but it can take a little bit more planning.

If someone in your team, or an outside provider, is responsible for editing your video and audio, be sure to explain the format and content that you require for your YouTube video and your podcast. If you work with an agency like us, at Content 10x, we know exactly how to edit a video so that the right parts are in the podcast and in the YouTube video!

Don’t: ignore the pace

A YouTube audience can be impatient, so pay extra attention to your video’s pace. You have to hook people right from the start and maintain their attention.

One simple way to keep a good pace is to edit in jump cuts – where you film a single take, but you jump forward by editing out content. This keeps your video sharp. Jump cuts are good for transitioning between topics quickly or to remove any pauses or hesitations.

Also, remember that you don’t have to use all of your podcast episode when you repurpose it to YouTube. You can be selective. Which brings me onto my next point…

Do: segment your content

I’ve talked a lot before about the benefits of segmenting your content. To find out what they are check out How to Segment Your Content for Unlimited Repurposing. In this case, segmenting can be extremely beneficial.

Chopping up your content to repurpose it can be time consuming. However, if you segment your content, you can easily pull-out standalone segments and repurpose them to a multitude of channels and platforms.

For example, when you repurpose a podcast to YouTube you may not want to include your entire episode. You might only want one or two particular topics on the platform.

Say you have a technology podcast, and each week you record an episode covering three items: your favorite new piece of technology, discussion of a tech-related news article, and finally your review of a tech gadget.

You might not want to publish this entire podcast episode on YouTube. Your gadget review might be something that your podcast listeners asked you to do and they love to chat about it on social media. But you don’t have that bond with your new YouTube audience yet.

Instead, you’d rather share your thoughts on new technology. This segment has more potential to be found by the search engine and can perform well as a standalone piece of content.

Segmenting your podcast content means that you can repurpose the sections you want to YouTube without having to spend hours editing the video to be YouTube friendly. It also makes for a much more digestible video – and you can repurpose the segments across other platforms for even more visibility.

The purpose of your videos on YouTube may be to grow your YouTube channel. But it could just as easily be to highlight your podcast. Your segment could be, in essence, a podcast trailer, and the call to action is to listen to the full episode.

Don’t: forget YouTube SEO and metadata 

It’s important that you consider YouTube SEO when uploading your video to the platform.

This involves choosing the right title and doing some keyword research. This means that the title of your YouTube video may not be the same as the title of your podcast on the podcast apps.

Your YouTube video description needs to be written for the platform with SEO in mind. Again, this is going to be different to your podcast show notes.

You also need to consider the right tags and end cards.

There’s also human SEO – your thumbnail.  Thumbnails are EXTREMELY important. You need to create a custom thumbnail and the words on the thumbnail should not be the title of the video. The words are to “get the click”, so don’t waste an opportunity by repeating the title!

The good news is, because Google own YouTube, any work you do to help your video with YouTube SEO will also help with Google SEO too.

Do: pay attention to audio quality

If you’re a podcaster already then you know how important audio quality is. Make sure you keep audio quality as high as possible when recording your videos too.

My top tip for any podcaster is to invest in a proper microphone. Yes, even if you’re doing a video podcast. Recording your audio using an internal built-in mic on your camera or computer just isn’t the same…

Are you ready to repurpose?

I hope my six dos and don’ts for repurposing a podcast to YouTube are helpful. Do bear them in mind when repurposing, and don’t hesitate to get started!

Repurposing podcasts to YouTube could be a game-changer, but... as I mentioned it depends on what your goals are, your budget is, and so much more.

Video podcasts should be high quality content. So really take the time to consider whether to repurpose your whole podcast episode to YouTube or whether you should only repurpose your highest-quality segments.

If your main goal isn't to grow your YouTube channel, then is it to grow your podcast listeners? Or is it for as much brand awareness as possible? Knowing what your goals are, how you’ll measure them, and being patient pays off when it comes to content.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day…and neither was a successful podcast or a YouTube channel!

Many of our clients consider video to be their core content, and we assist them with repurposing their videos into podcast episodes. They don’t consider themselves a “podcaster” as they create video content. But by turning their video into podcast episodes as well, we help them reach a wider audience. And it works really, really well.

Others consider themselves first and foremost a podcaster. The podcast is their key focus, so they repurpose it into a video for all the reasons I discussed in this post.

If you are a podcaster, then you should weigh up if recording video podcast episodes could benefit you. There are extra production times and costs to think about so you need to consider if making the extra effort will help you reach your goals.

There is no doubt that it does take more time, and there’s more of an investment. But there are also many potential benefits that make it worth it.

Maybe you’re thinking of starting your content empire with either video or podcast content, or maybe you’re already a video creator or podcaster looking for some repurposing help.