Podimo and the visual podcast: when talent changes everything

Luis Basteiro, commissioning editor of Come on in Spain, reviews the platform's commitment to the visual aspect of its podcasts, an initiative that has led them to create recording studios with 4K cameras in which more than a dozen formats with unique visual identities are recorded quarterly.

Just five years ago, when those responsible for Spanish and European podcasting platforms were addressing the benefits of their platforms and on-demand audio consumption, they highlighted among their advantages the ability to visual disconnection. For a moment, in a world hypersaturated with screens and stimuli, the listener could rest their gaze and listen passively. In this way, the audio offered disconnection and entertainment, allowing you to combine your consumption with other activities, such as driving or doing household chores.

Now, although it maintains those hallmarks, a new type of podcast consumer has proliferated that has encouraged its own thematic redefinition. In a world where the prescriber is the origin of engagement and the culture of visual exhibition crosses the relationships of interaction with entertainment, listener demands a visual support to get closer to talent. The speaker must be seen; hiss reactions, studied (or admired).

In this way, the contract between both agents goes beyond what utterance and what was heard; interpretation and body language stop being imagination and become evidence through the screen. The video, whether due to this particular relationship, for promotional reasons or as a response to the impact of visual windows such as streaming platforms or social networks, arrives to stay in the field of podcasts.

Aware of this change, and anticipating many of its European counterparts, Podimo Spain began a path several years ago to focus on providing visual support to the 95% of its catalog. Either with the content generated by its production partners, or from its recording studio located in Madrid, it creates small on-demand “television” conversational programs that can be listened to in podcast format and vice versa. The limits are blurred, although the audio remains the axis of the experience, as explained Luis Basteiro, commissioning editor of Podimo which, on a day-to-day basis, works on the creation of these formats.

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The reasons for video in the podcast

The scenario has changed: Basteiro has no doubt. The modes of audiovisual consumption of content have meant that bringing video to the podcast makes all the sense in the world, even when it clashes with its identity pillars. Just as visual radio becomes standardized, the podcast was not going to be any less, even when genres intermingle and the boundaries between formats blur.

"Surely we are one of the markets that has the most bets and the most video presence. I would say that it is a legacy of the high penetration that there is in Spain with YouTube."

Basteiro analyzes this context by mentioning terms like la “curiosity”, which leads the listener (“or content consumer”) to claim the power to put a face to the person who is speaking, or the “diffusion” that facilitates visual support: “It gives us many possibilities, since we can share small clips with the best moments on social networks”, something essential since Podimo is defined as an exclusive content platform with a paywall.” Furthermore, the commissioning editor of Podimo highlights values ​​such as “brand identity” that helps shape these visual elements, which in some way shows that the construction of sound identity is no longer so relevant in a context of dozens of conversational podcasts, or the “reinforcement of the narrative of the episodes”, which “perhaps brings the content a little closer to a humble television program.”

These values, Basteiro clarifies, do not represent Podimo's global strategy, a platform that is built based on the culture of each of the countries in which it operates. Compared to homogenized strategies of other types of audiovisual content that operate globally, the visual podcast in the strict sense (distanced from conversational video platform formats) is an eminently español: "Surely we are one of the markets with the most commitment and video presence. I would say that it is inherited from the high penetration that there is in Spain with YouTube, a platform that we have played for almost our entire life, but that in other countries, although it is difficult for us to understand it, does not have as much presence."

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The connection between the creator and the listener

Until a few years ago, the announcer was a figure who did not require visual support to gain the trust of the listener. Currently, programs broadcast these professionals speaking normally from the studio, conducting an interview from their home or even appearing on split screen in football broadcasts when they call a goal. Beyond the evolution of viewer preferences, Basteiro points out the progress and democratization of technology as an accelerator element for this type of resources. “It is much more democratic and economical,” he explains.

"Today, practically all the people who are dedicated to communication have very powerful profiles that have generated their world outside of the podcast. That user base has demanded to know more about their lives."

In parallel, putting the visual focus on these professionals helps to consolidate a brand identity. Their voice and content are important, but the prescriptive and personal interest that viewers generate with these professionals should not be underestimated. In recent times, it is more common to see established talent in other areas have opportunities in the podcasting than seeing voice professionals establish a personal brand based on these formats: "Today, practically all the people who are dedicated to communication have very powerful profiles that have generated their world outside of the podcast. That user base has demanded to know more about their life. Hence, now people demand that face; when a podcast appears and it is only in audio, they feel like something is missing."

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Podimo's visual podcast shoots

After identifying the possibilities of the visual aspect of the podcast, Podimo Spain defined a strategy to support the visual aspect of its sound projects. This strategy has led to the fact that currently 95% of its projects are committed to a visual extension, whether they are programs that have the complete video when playing the format in their different windows, or recorded for promotional purposes.

Although some of these formats are offered by external producers that autonomously manage the recordings in accordance with the guidelines defined by the company itself to maintain its quality standards, an important part of this content is managed from the Podimo studio in Madrid, a space of 40 square meters which can accommodate up to three different sets (plus a fourth chroma slot dedicated to promotions) to house an average of 10 different formats monthly. This versatility in the assembly and disassembly of the different sets, as well as a pre-established recording model, has allowed them to film, since August 2023, 600 episodes.

To shape this content, which brings together formats such as The Olympus of the Goddesses, La Sobremesa, Real Politik FC o The Club of Living Minds, Basteiro and his team decided to go for three cameras Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Plus equipped with optics Olympus, whose UHD resolution allows editing and adaptation of the image for the different windows in which the content is broadcast. Always, in order to prioritize the audio, they will offer static shots, whether general with all the participants in the program, or shots of each of the interlocutors. These technical solutions are managed internally by Podimo, by teams freelance or by external producers.

In the audio section, the company is betting on four omnidirectional dynamic microphones of Shure, in order to make it easier for talent and guests to record their formats. The mixing is done with the solution all-in-one RED Caster Pro II, which allows four microphone inputs and introduce other sound sources through an external source.

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Variable models in favor of talent

Starting from this production model, the Podimo Spain team adapts the production of each format depending on the needs of each of the podcasts, some of which are managed entirely by the podcast itself. talent. Production, post-production, promotion or management: It all depends on the particular needs of each project: “If we standardized our way of working and only had three formulas, there would be talents for whom it would not fit, because their requirements are different.”

“If we standardized our way of working and only had three formulas, there would be talents for whom it would not fit.”

This adaptation allows the talent to personalize the requirements of the productions so that they feel “part of the brand identity”, and global goal from the Danish company. Always, above all, maintaining the sonic fidelity of each format: "We like to treat the talent very closely; that they feel supported, that they have support of how the episode is performing in order to help the talent exploit their full potential and that they can take advantage of the proximity of the marketing team. Whether they are in a production company, open or recording with us in the studio, we work hand in hand," explains Basteiro.

This variability in production models extends to the provision of formats to viewers. Most of the projects are uploaded to the platform by Come on prior quality control, although there is the possibility that it is the production company or the talent that uploads the content within the platform: "For a time we had a daily project on broadcast that was recorded first thing in the morning, and it was the talent themselves who, due to the proximity of the news, uploaded the material."

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Interactivity and streaming

The video team Podimo Spain, working closely with the product department, continues to improve the platforms' capabilities to take advantage of all the advantages that video in the podcast offers. During recent months, the platform has incorporated elements of greater interaction such as the possibility of make comments in the episodes or react with emojis. In addition, they have been enabled accounts to the creators themselves so that they can comment on the episodes and “create a community” within the same platform: “The idea is that the more comfortable and close the user feels with the talent, the more engagement and relationship will be generated between both parties.”

"The podcast is a sector that we are shaping today. (...) It is just being born or beginning to mature."

The redefinition of the boundaries of the podcast continues. Apart from continuing to progress in its visual proposal, a path taken in parallel with the growing interrelationship with talent, Podimo has promoted tours and live specials of its formats, as well as in-person events such as the imminent Podimo Fest that will arrive at the Madrid festival Botanical Nights.

When questioned about the possibility of including the streaming in this and other types of events, which would inevitably redefine the limits between radio, television and podcasting, Basteiro doesn't close any door. In a volatile and unpredictable audiovisual consumer industry, the evolution stands as a key to maintaining the relevance: "The podcast is a sector that we are shaping today. It is far from being TV or radio, which has surely tried and tested all possible formulas, and which is much more widespread. The podcast is just being born or beginning to mature."

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez

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