Skip to main content

Spotify’s CEO on why this new video push is different

Spotify’s CEO on why this new video push is different

/

After several fits and starts, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek thinks the company is finally ready to rival YouTube as a destination for video podcasts.

Share this story

Spotify Hosts a “Now Playing” Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
Daniel Ek.
Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Spotify

Earlier this week, I watched Spotify CEO Daniel Ek give his latest pitch to video podcasters, many of whom have a hard time seeing anything other than YouTube as their primary source of distribution and revenue. 

Spotify has been working to increase the amount of video on its service for nearly a decade. There are now more than 300,000 video podcasts on the service. Overall time spent watching video is growing faster than audio-only listening time. With video podcasts playing an increasingly important role in culture, Spotify thinks it has an opening to more directly compete with the dominance of YouTube.

Ek will need to convince video creators that Spotify’s new engagement-based payouts can replace and even exceed what they make on YouTube. Many big podcasters — some of whom were in the audience with me while Ek made the pitch this week at Spotify’s Los Angeles HQ — are skeptical and worried about cannibalizing their existing audiences and businesses. After his keynote, I spoke with Ek to hear more about why he thinks this approach to video will work.

Start your Command Line free trial now to continue reading

This story is exclusively for subscribers of Command Line, our newsletter about the tech industry’s inside conversation. Subscribe to a plan below for full access.

Already a Command Line subscriber?Sign in

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Having issues?Click here for FAQ