Why 2026 Could Be Your Breakthrough Year in Video Podcasting

What if I told you that the way people consume podcasts is about to change more dramatically in the next 12 months than it has in the past five years combined? And what if I also told you that coaches and consultants who adapt to these shifts now will have a massive competitive advantage over those who wait?

That’s exactly what we’re diving into today. My co-host Dustin Pead and I sat down in our brand new podcast studio to forecast what we’re seeing on the horizon for video podcasting in 2026. These aren’t random guesses—they’re patterns we’re watching unfold with our clients, shifts we’re seeing across platforms, and trends that are already starting to reshape how content creates authority and attracts clients.

Whether you’re thinking about launching your first podcast or you’ve been creating content for years, these five predictions will help you understand where the landscape is headed and how to position yourself to win. The world of video podcasting is expanding fast, and the coaches who lean into these changes will be the ones who build real influence and impact.

Prediction 1: Video Podcasting Will Continue Its Explosive Growth

Video podcasting isn’t slowing down—it’s accelerating. YouTube has become one of the largest podcast platforms in the world, and the shift from audio-only to video-first is undeniable. But here’s what most people miss: people are watching podcasts everywhere now, not just on their phones.

During a recent client call with a team of six people, I asked a simple question: “How many of you have watched a podcast on your TV in the last 12 months?” Five out of six hands went up immediately. These weren’t just young tech enthusiasts—they were people across age groups and backgrounds. The living room has become the new podcast consumption hub.

What’s even more interesting is that younger audiences are consuming what we call “podcasts” without even realizing it. They don’t think of it as Episode 12 of a show—they think of it as content, as a conversation they want to be part of. They’re watching it on their TVs, their tablets, and yes, still on their phones. And platforms are taking notice.

Netflix is making moves to bring podcasting content onto its platform. The Golden Globes just announced a podcasting category, with shows like SmartLess being nominated. This isn’t a niche anymore—it’s mainstream, it’s global, and it’s only getting bigger.

If you’ve been on the fence about starting a video podcast, 2026 is the year to get in the game.

Prediction 2: Community Will Matter More Than Download Numbers

For years, podcasters have obsessed over metrics: subscriber counts, download numbers, follower growth. But 2026 is going to be the year where those vanity metrics take a backseat to something far more valuable—community.

We’re already seeing this shift. Platforms are deprioritizing follower counts in favor of engagement. Content is finding its audience regardless of how many subscribers you have. The question is no longer “How many people are listening?” but rather “Are the right people listening, and are they engaging?”

As coaches and consultants, your podcast should be more than a marketing tool—it should be a gateway to deeper connection. That means building community around your content. Whether it’s a free Slack group, a Discord server, or a membership portal, the goal is to create spaces where your audience doesn’t just consume your message—they engage with it and with each other.

Your podcast becomes the hub. Your community becomes the engine. And your business grows as a result. This isn’t about going viral. It’s about creating a movement of people who trust you, learn from you, and ultimately want to work with you.

Focus on building a community of engaged listeners, not just a large audience of passive consumers.

Prediction 3: The Trust Recession Will Deepen, and Authenticity Will Win

With the rise of AI-generated content, we’re living in what we call a “trust recession.” People are becoming more skeptical of what they see online. Short-form content, while still popular, is starting to wear on audiences who crave something real, something human.

The TikTokification of every platform has created a fast-paced, scroll-heavy culture that leaves people exhausted. And while short-form content has its place, audiences are increasingly turning to long-form, authentic conversations where they can actually connect with the person on screen.

This is where video podcasting shines. It’s harder to fake authenticity in a 20-minute conversation than it is in a 30-second reel. People want to hear your stories, see your personality, and understand who you really are. They want depth, not just highlights.

In 2026, the coaches and consultants who show up authentically—who share real stories, admit real struggles, and have real conversations—will be the ones who build unshakeable trust with their audience. And trust is what converts viewers into clients.

The antidote to the trust recession is authenticity. Show up as yourself, tell real stories, and have genuine conversations.

Prediction 4: AI Will Multiply Your Podcast’s Reach Globally

Here’s where things get exciting. AI isn’t just a threat to trust—it’s also a massive opportunity to expand your reach. One of the most powerful tools emerging in 2026 is AI-driven translation and localization.

Imagine recording your podcast in English and having it automatically translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, or any other language. Your message, your voice, your authority—now available to a global audience without you lifting a finger beyond the initial recording.

What you thought was a local or regional podcast can now reach people across continents. Coaches who embrace this technology will see their influence multiply in ways that weren’t possible even a year ago.

The world is shrinking, and your message can travel farther than you ever imagined. Don’t limit yourself to one language or one geography. In 2026, your podcast can truly be global.

Leverage AI to translate your content and expand your reach to a global audience.

Prediction 5: AI Will Streamline Your Production and Save You Time

Beyond expanding your reach, AI is also going to make podcast production faster and easier. From automated editing tools to AI-generated show notes, transcripts, and social media clips, technology is removing the biggest barrier to consistent content creation: time.

You’ll be able to record a 30-minute episode and have it broken down into multiple short-form clips, quote graphics, and blog posts—all in a fraction of the time it used to take. This means you can focus on what you do best (coaching and teaching) while AI handles the heavy lifting of repurposing and distribution.

But here’s the balance: AI can speed up your process, but it can’t replace the human connection that makes your content valuable. Use AI as a tool to amplify your voice, not to replace it.

AI will save you time in production, but never forget that your authenticity is what makes your content powerful.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Give Up on Your Podcast Goals

We’re recording this in mid-January, right around the time when most people have already abandoned their New Year’s resolutions. But here’s the truth: your voice matters. The world needs what you have to say. And video podcasting is one of the most powerful tools you have to share your message, build authority, and grow your business.

If you’re thinking about starting a podcast in 2026, don’t let fear or overwhelm stop you. If you’ve already started but haven’t seen the results you want, don’t give up—simplify, refine, and keep going.

The landscape is shifting in your favor. Video podcasting is booming. Community is the new currency. Authenticity is the antidote to the trust recession. And AI is giving you tools to reach more people than ever before.

This is your year. Get in the game.

Ready to turn your podcast into an authority engine that attracts premium clients? Head over to 1898creative.com and let’s build something awesome together. Because when you create your art, you change the world.

Full Transcript

Darren: Hey, if you are somebody who’s thinking about starting a video podcast in 2026, me and my buddy Dustin on the camera there, way over there, woohoo, are giving our 2026 video podcasting predictions. So you’re going to want to stick around if you are wanting to start that podcast in 2026 to see if we’re right. So with that being said, let’s get into it.

Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Coaching with Content Podcast. My name is Darren. This is Dustin. Dustin, you doing good?

Dustin: Doing great. Pumped for a great 2026.

Darren: Did you have a good holiday?

Dustin: I did, man. It was very restful.

Darren: I like that. I like that. Same. Same. It was restful. And I like just unplugging towards the end of the year before diving back in. And now we’re here. We’re doing this thing in the new podcast studio, man. Look at me. I know I can’t show you the whole thing. I should have gotten a camera to show you the whole thing here, but ultimately, this is our new podcast studio that we’re building out to be able to bring clients in, to have more and more content created with you, making it easier, right? To make it easier, especially if you’re in the Indianapolis area. I mean, obviously you can join us from anywhere, but if you’re in the Indy area, we’d love to have you here. The good old podcast studio, and I’m sure you’ll see more of that in the weeks and months to come. But Dustin, that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.

Today, we want to make some predictions. You ready to speak to the future?

Dustin: Yeah, yeah, I’ve kind of tapped into my inner weatherman.

Darren: There you go.

Dustin: Forecast mentality here, so just some forecasting.

Darren: Yeah, let’s do some forecasting. I like this idea. Dustin and I are going to talk about our podcasting predictions for 2026. I think this is important just to kind of look ahead, see what we’re seeing on the landscape, speak to it directly. And then maybe at this time next year, Dustin, we’ll look back and see if we’ve made any sense at all, or if we’re just a bunch of idiots. I don’t know.

Dustin: I don’t know.

Darren: So we’re going to walk through the five predictions here. Okay. I’m going to give you a few. Dustin’s going to give you a few, and then we’re going to land the plane.

The big thing that I’m seeing, I’m going to start off with number one, my first prediction for podcasting in 2026 is that video podcasting is going to continue to boom. What? Crazy, right? I think we’re going to see more and more platforms optimized for video podcasting. You’re already seeing it with YouTube becoming one of the biggest podcast platforms that there is out there from a video standpoint. And Dustin, I was on a call the other day with one of our clients, the whole entire team. There was like six or seven of them on there. And I asked in the call just off the cuff. I didn’t plan this, I didn’t do anything. We were talking about the importance of the YouTube channel and having a video presence with the podcast. And I said, raise your hand if in the last 12 months you have watched a podcast episode on your TV in your living room. And dude, five of the six of them raised their hands. It wasn’t just the young people, it wasn’t just the old people, it was all of them, right? Like all of them collectively raised their hand and said that. And I know I have done that, I’m assuming you have done that, Dustin.

Dustin: I was thinking about my house, there’s four people in here, I can tell you that’s true for three of the four of us have definitely done that.

Darren: Wild, wild, right? And it was funny because I was talking to another client and they said, oh, you know, some of those Gen Z-ers were telling us that we needed to get on TikTok more because nobody watches podcasts. And I kind of stopped them and I was like, I think they do watch podcasts. They just don’t realize they’re watching podcasts. Because they’re not calling it a podcast. They might call it a show. They might call it their content or whatever. They’re not putting episode 12 after the title, right? They’re just creating the content in a conversational way and they’re consuming it as Gen Zers or whatever, Gen X, whatever the young folks are called nowadays, right? And they are consuming that, but they’re just not realizing it.

And the reason that this is my prediction too is I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Netflix has been starting to make some noise about bringing podcasting content onto their platform. And as the time of this recording, they’re also negotiating with buying Warner Brothers, which is also crazy, so if Netflix is trying to do the Warner Brothers deal as well as leverage their platform for podcasting, I’m thinking in 2026, we’re going to see a lot more video podcasting. And so if you haven’t gotten in the game yet, it’s time to get in the game.

Number two is I think what we’re going to see, we’re already seeing a little bit, but I think it’s going to be even heightened in 2026 is we’re going to see community around the podcast becoming more important. We’re already seeing a drop in the importance of subscriber numbers and different things like that. Follower counts on social, right? We’re seeing that drop and it’s now the content is the most important and it’s going to find its audience.

So I think what we need to do around the idea of podcasting is we need to create better community around it. How can we get people engaged in deeper levels? And obviously around here in 1898, we encourage the podcast to be the number one business sales opportunity for you, right? The thing that works for you 24 seven. And ultimately that podcast driving people to community that community drives people into your business and ultimately growing your business through podcasting, right?

Dustin: Yeah, it’s having all the other things that go along with it that’s going to drive the importance of your podcast existing, right? So we’re talking about coaching with content here. So as a coach or a consultant or whatever you have in the client-based world that you live in, being able to create a community of whether it be a free thing that you do on Slack or Discord or anything like that, being able to do that, have membership client portals. Being able to do that is going to create that digital community, which we all, it kind of naturally boomed out of COVID anyway, the kind of the explosion of Zoom. Now we’re seeing curated communities and part of that curated community is ongoing content like podcasts.

Darren: And I’ll say too, just back to your first point, Golden Globes have announced podcasting as a category.

Dustin: No way.

Darren: Yeah. Yeah. So that too, they also, so talk about podcasting going global. The Golden Globes now have a podcasting category, which one of my favorite podcasts SmartLess is up for.

Dustin: That’s amazing. I did not know that.

Darren: And so that just directly speaks to what we’re talking about here today. Like it is, it means that there’s going to be a lot of people getting in the pool, but to the point of the communities, that means that you’re going to be able to find your audience, and maybe you don’t have a million subscribers, maybe you don’t have a million listeners or downloads, but you’re speaking directly to the right people and getting them to move, and now you’re seeing your business grow in really cool ways. And so this is super cool, and I love that you brought that up, that they are making that a category because that speaks to that reality. And so we’re going to see it in 2026.

Hey, quick pause here. If you are thinking about starting a podcast or have already started one and it’s not driving business results like you would like it to, we would love to help. At 1898 Creative, we install a proven podcast system, a strategy that helps you leverage your message to attract premium clients without adding more to your plate. So if you’re ready to turn your podcast into an authority engine, book a call over at 1898creative.com and let’s build something awesome together. All right, now let’s get back to the conversation.

The third and last one for me before we dive into a couple from you, Dustin, is I think we’re going to continue to see the rise in the trust recession. With the boom of AI, trust recession. The rise and the recession, is that what you said?

Dustin: The rise and the recession.

Darren: So that doesn’t make sense. You know what I’m saying, buddy.

Dustin: I know, give the visual here.

Darren: Yeah, give me that visual. Anyway, so the rise of the trust recession or the continual rise of the trust recession with the boom of AI, with the things that are happening there, people are a little more skeptical of the short form content. I also think even outside of AI, Dustin, like the short form, fast paced stuff, like I think it’s just starting to kind of wear on people a little bit. The TikTokification of the world is really helped us in the sense that all the platforms are leveraging for the same thing now, but it’s, it’s the TikTokification. Try to say that 10 times fast. Right. But because of that, I think we’re just going to continue to lean into more authentic conversations.

And here next week, we’re actually going to talk about something that we believe around here, which is creating a story vault, right? To capture these authentic stories that you can share with your audience and your community. And that is where the trust recession is going to lead us. And so how can you be more authentic? How can you be more you? How can you be more story-driven in 2026? And if you do that, I think you’re going to start winning because we’re going to see the continual expansion of the trust recession.

So those are my three predictions for 2026. I’m going to try to recap them, but you might have to help me. So the first one is the fact that video podcasting is going to continue to be.

Dustin: Yep, it’s on the rise.

Darren: Number two is community over downloads, right? Community over downloads. And three is the trust recession is going to continue and even expand.

Dustin: Yeah. And I’ll piggyback off of that too, with my two as well, that they are AI oriented. We are in the age of AI, right?

Darren: Hit me with them.

Dustin: And so I would say there’s the AI divide, which is what Darren was just talking about. Is it real versus generated? That’s the trust recession. I’m going to keep with the math verbiage, that was the AI divide. I’m going to give you the AI multiply. Okay. Okay. For 2026 is some really cool tools that they’re developing now. Obviously we can use AI to translate into other languages, which means your podcast that you think is just only effective in your neck of the woods. You’re global, baby.

Darren: Here in the United States, you can actually take it global if you want to. So there’s the AI multiply. So number four is AI, I think, is going to allow you to multiply your platform even bigger than what you just made if you would like to leverage it that way.

Dustin: That’s so true. And then my fifth one. So we got the AI divide and we got AI multiply. My other one is going to be the AI addition, which is actually a little bit twofold. It’s addition in the sense that you’re basically going to be able to bring some relief to your team. It’s going to add to your production process, but it’s also going to subtract too, because it’s going to take you less time to post production your podcast. If you so desire, there’s all kinds of tools out there to help you break down your podcast quicker and faster and get it out into the world with a little bit more ease. So yeah, I think it’s a divide, a multiply and addition slash subtraction for AI. Those are my two and a half.

Darren: Kind of piggyback off for years. No, no, I get it. I get it. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Those are strong predictions, Dustin. And I think we are going to be called the weathermen of podcasting here.

Dustin: It’s totally, totally forecasting.

Darren: So yeah, hold us accountable. We’ll check back in maybe this time next year and see how our predictions have warranted, but ultimately we believe in video podcasting. We believe in long form content that you can use across the board to reach more people, to connect with more people, to just to get people to move, to act, right? And so if you are somebody that’s either dabbled in video podcasting, you want to launch, you want to leverage your podcast, we would love to work with you at 1898. Head on over to 1898creative.com.

You can jump on a call with us. We can see what makes sense. We can do all that kind of stuff because we do feel like this is a huge opportunity that a lot of us can begin to leverage to actually not just grow our business, that’s part of it, but we’re actually going to make impact. And that is where cool things happen, right? Like one of our clients, Dustin, that we get to work with is a coach that kind of helps people in life development and figuring out who they were created to be and all that kind of stuff. And when we help them use and leverage their voice to connect with the right audience, lives are literally changed. Impact is made. And you as a coach or consultant out there or a business that’s trying to make an impact in the world, like when you begin to do the hard work of putting this together, you can change the world with a podcast.

Yes, I said it, you can change the world with your podcast. And now that it’s global now, Dustin, you shared with us, it’s global now. We can literally change the world. Anyway, final thoughts before we jump off here today, Dustin.

Dustin: Yeah, I mean, I like that we’re doing this in January. We’re at the point in January now, I believe this episode is coming out kind of mid-January-ish.

Darren: Yeah, mid-late.

Dustin: We’re at the point in January now where they say people have already started to give up on their goals. So my message to you is don’t give up. Simplify if you need to simplify, edit if you need to edit, but don’t give up. Keep going. The world needs what you have to create.

Darren: Preach brother. Preach brother, Dustin. I am here for that. I am here for that. All right. Well, as we wrap up here, hopefully these predictions are kind of fun to think about and are they going to actually come to life or not? We will see. But like Dustin said, I want you to literally know that your voice matters and that you got to do the hard work of bringing that to life. It is not easy turning on the camera, hitting record is not easy, but it’s needed and your voice is needed in this world more than you know. And we need you to go out there and create your art right here. Go out and create your art and we’re here to support you as you continue to do so here at 1898 creative and the coaching with content podcast. We’ll see you here next time.