Best video podcasts to watch in 2026

Video is now the dominant discovery format for podcasts. YouTube passed 1 billion monthly podcast viewers and Spotify now hosts over 330,000 video podcasts. But most "video podcasts" aren't equally good in video and audio. Some shows are genuinely worth watching. Others should be experienced as audio and the video is a formality.

Here are the video podcasts that actually earn the video treatment in 2026, the ones where seeing the room, the guest, the product, or the reaction adds something the audio alone doesn't. Every pick is available on Podtastic, so you can flip between the audio version and the video version depending on where you are.

TL;DR, the shortlist

• Waveform: the tech-review podcast that unambiguously earns video
• Decoder with Nilay Patel: long-form CEO interviews with the visual weight of a proper sit-down
• The Vergecast: a weekly tech round-up where the hardware demos genuinely need a camera
• Hard Fork: Kevin Roose and Casey Newton talking AI, worth the video when guests join
• On with Kara Swisher: interviews where the guest reactions are half the story
• My First Million: Sam Parr and Shaan Puri riffing on startup ideas, YouTube-native energy
• TBPN: a tech-business daily built for the video-first era
• This Week in Tech: Leo Laporte's long-running roundtable, video streaming since before it was cool
• Prof G Markets: Ed Elson and Scott Galloway on markets, works in video when charts get drawn
• The Rest Is Entertainment: Marina Hyde and Richard Osman on culture, video adds the delivery

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Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast

Marques Brownlee's podcast is the clearest case of a video podcast that would be less good as audio. The show reviews consumer tech, phones, wearables, laptops, cars, and half the value is Marques literally holding the thing up to the camera, showing you the screen glare, the button feel, the surprise on his face when Andrew and David disagree with him.

If you're new to it, the WWDC recap and the annual smartphone awards episodes are the ones that hook most listeners. Audio-only works too, but you're missing the demo half.

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Nilay Patel gets CEOs on the record for 60-90 minutes. Video gives you the small tells, a CEO shifting when a question lands, a moment of genuine surprise, a smile that a pull quote doesn't capture. It's also the format that lets you see whether the guest actually turned up for the interview or phoned it in.

Audio works fine for the drive; video is worth it for the CEO episodes specifically.

The Vergecast

The Vergecast is a weekly tech round-up hosted by Nilay Patel and David Pierce. The recent Ramageddon segment is a good example of why the video version earns its keep, when they're pulling up charts on the RAM crisis or a screenshot of Meta's smart-glasses privacy interface, the video makes the reference obvious in a way the audio has to describe.

Audio version is great for the pub-conversation feel; video version is better when there's a hardware or UI moment in play.

Hard Fork

Kevin Roose and Casey Newton do a weekly on AI, big tech, and cultural fallout. The video is quietly excellent when there's a guest, the interviews land differently when you can see who the guest is looking at, especially the more heated regulator conversations. Audio-only is also completely fine and probably how most listeners consume it.

On with Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher's interview show is another that works better with the video for a specific reason, her interview style is confrontational in a friendly way, and watching a guest's face during a follow-up question is often the whole point. She gets access to political and tech figures who normally do rehearsed press circuits, and the video captures the moments where the rehearsal cracks.

My First Million

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri riffing on startup ideas. The show is YouTube-native, the two hosts sit at desks facing each other, the whiteboard is often physical, and half the jokes rely on seeing one of them make a face at the other. It's a good example of a video podcast that started as audio and evolved into a video-first product.

TBPN

If you want a daily rhythm on tech and business, TBPN is the video-first take. It runs like a cable business channel that took the cable network out of the equation, a live-ish daily with graphics, guest segments, and headlines. Works as background audio too, but the show is clearly designed for people looking at a screen.

This Week in Tech

Leo Laporte's TWiT show has been broadcasting on video since long before it was fashionable, the podcast literally invented the term "netcast" and the video studio has been operating for years. If you want a weekly, roundtable format with rotating panellists on the state of tech, this is one of the longest-running versions of that format on either audio or video.

Prof G Markets

Ed Elson and Scott Galloway on markets and business, most useful in video when there's a chart on screen. The Alex Kantrowitz interview on the Apple v OpenAI lawsuit is a good recent example, the chart section of the episode makes more sense with the visual.

The Rest Is Entertainment

Marina Hyde and Richard Osman on the media and culture industries. Genuinely one of the funniest podcasts in either format, and video adds the delivery, Marina Hyde's raised eyebrow when Richard Osman lands a punchline is worth the video click by itself. The UK-culture focus is the differentiator; if you want a break from the US-tech-heavy list above, this is where to go.

Which of these should you actually watch?

Realistic answer: pick two.

If you're a tech listener, Waveform for the reviews and Decoder for the interviews cover the vast majority of what's worth watching in the tech world. Everything else on this list is a strong audio show that occasionally rewards a video click.

If you're a business/startup listener, My First Million and TBPN are the video-native pair. Different tones, MFM is riffy and idea-heavy, TBPN is more paced and headline-driven.

If you want one show that isn't tech or business, The Rest Is Entertainment is the change-of-pace pick.

How to watch these without leaving your podcast app

A recent Podtastic update added a Jump to Video button to the maxi player for shows that publish a video feed alongside the audio. Tap it and you're in the video version of the current episode at the same timestamp, no need to search YouTube, no scrubbing, no phone dance.

For the shows above that publish a video version, that means you can listen through the standard podcast player, hit Jump to Video when a hardware demo or chart lands, then close the video and go back to audio-only for the rest. It matches how most people actually watch video podcasts anyway, with the video on for the visual bits, audio-only for the long conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Are video podcasts a different format from regular podcasts?

Usually not. Most video podcasts are the same show recorded with a camera. The audio version ships to podcast feeds (Apple, Spotify, Podtastic, Overcast) and the video ships to YouTube, Spotify's video tier, and sometimes their own site. Some newer shows are video-first, TBPN and Waveform are examples, but even those maintain audio-only feeds because that's where a lot of the loyal listening still happens.

Do I need YouTube Premium to watch video podcasts?

You need YouTube Premium (or YouTube Music) if you want background play, meaning you can lock your screen or switch to another app and the audio keeps going. Without Premium, YouTube stops playback when the app leaves the foreground. This is one reason a lot of "video podcast" listeners actually consume the audio via a podcast app instead, no premium subscription needed.

What's the best way to discover new video podcasts?

Two paths. Follow the creators you already like on YouTube, most tech and business podcasters clip their shows there. Then, when you find one worth committing to, subscribe to the audio feed in a podcast app so you get the full-length version with proper chaptering and background play. YouTube is the trailer; the podcast app is the listen.

Listen smarter with Podtastic

Get more out of your new podcast picks. Podtastic is a fully featured podcast player for iOS and Android, built around Smart Features (the AI features) and Audio Enhancements (deterministic DSP tuned for spoken-word audio):

• Smart Summaries — AI summaries of every podcast and episode so you know what's coming before you hit play
• Smart Topics — key topics surfaced across your favourite shows so you can jump straight to what matters
• Smart Playback — your queue fills itself based on what you actually listen to
• Smart Skip — auto-skips commonly-skipped sections of an episode (intros, recaps, asides), powered by AI topic detection plus aggregated listening data; a single tap on any control surface jumps you to the next Smart Topic on demand
• Skip Silence — auto-removes silences from speech so episodes flow without dragging
• Enhance Voices — a gentle EQ and compression preset that keeps voices clear in any room

Join the waitlist at podtastic.app to get early access.