"Using YouTube's takeover of podcasts as a starting point, he explores how video has devoured audio and turned podcasts into something closer to daytime TV and late-night talk shows. NPR's Rachel Martin, host of the celebrity-interview show Wild Card, joins to talk about her own shift from intimate, audio-only conversations to highly visible video chats with mega-celebrities. She explains how the visual layer changes everything-from building trust with guests and audiences to deepening parasocial relationships, and why showing your face is necessary in a low-trust media world."
"Then, writer and Plain English host Derek Thompson joins to explain his theory that "everything is television now." Warzel and Thompson explore how short-form video, autoplay feeds, and video podcasts are reshaping our attention, our politics, and even our sense of self-turning podcasts into background "wallpaper" while nudging more of us into broadcasting our lives. Together, the conversations sketch a weird, slightly berserk future where video podcasts aren't just a format-they're a window into a lonelier, more fragmented, video-first culture."
"Do you actually need to sit still by yourself and listen to your thoughts, ever? Like, is that good for you at all? Should you just always choose to, like, download other people's thoughts inside of your brain so you're never stuck with the sort of, you know, subvocal questions of your own consciousness? I feel honest about this, because I'm not su"
Video has devoured audio, transforming podcasts into visual, TV-like formats that prioritize faces and spectacle. Hosts and producers increasingly pivot to platforms like YouTube, converting intimate audio conversations into highly visible video chats with celebrities. Visual presentation alters trust dynamics with guests and deepens parasocial bonds, making visible hosting necessary in a low-trust media environment. The podcast business shifted from a narrative audio boom and costly experiments after major corporate bets to a landscape where YouTube and short-form video dominate. Autoplay feeds and video-first formats reshape attention, politics, and everyday broadcasting of the self.
Read at The Atlantic
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