|
This issue is presented by Honeyblocks → |
Hey honeys and hustlers,
For years, podcasting was the scrappy, audio-based, intimate corner of the internet. A microphone, a niche, a loyal audience, and maybe (if you were lucky) a brand deal or two. But now, the center of gravity is moving. Podcasts include video shows that are being optioned, acquired, adapted, packaged, and sold up the chain into film, television, and streaming. This evolution of the beloved medium isn’t only about big studios swooping in. It’s also about creators making a strategic choice to dream bigger than platform growth, and to think like owners of intellectual property. The smartest podcasters—especially the ones already creating in video—aren’t treating YouTube as the finish line.
Hollywood has always loved an existing audience, which is why we’ve seen so many books and comic series get developed into movies. A show can prove retention, episode cadence, and community engagement in a way that a cold screenplay can’t. You can see versions of this pipeline everywhere:
A popular true-crime/comedy show like Scam Goddess sits naturally inside the kind of IP ecosystem where characters, stories, and tone can travel.
Jake Shane’s Therapuss, a self-proclaimed Gen Z late-night show that has garnered celebrity guests like Glenn Powell and Kacey Musgraves and sold out ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, has been acquired by Netflix.
And we’re seeing more cases where podcast talent and concepts move into film—like Planet Money’s Jack Corbett appearing in the feature film Boys Go to Jupiter.
Even when these examples vary in genre, they point to the same reality: podcasts that have succeeded with both video and audio versions, potentially even live shows that have video repurposed for the internet, have had greater success pitching their shows for increased production and media support from streamers.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Dissect Podcast with Cole Cuchna
Many audio-first creators are exhausted by the push into video. It’s more work. More money to hire a crew if you don’t have experience with video production and editing. More gear. More editing. More attention to how you show up on camera. More exposure to online commentary. More everything. So it’s somewhat understandable when podcasters moan about the complexity and question whether the juice is worth the squeeze.
But the creators leaning into video aren’t necessarily doing it to chase YouTube fame. They’re doing it because video makes the show easier to package, sell, and scale into other formats. A video-forward podcast can function like a pilot episode every single week. It’s a standing proof-of-concept. In that light, video isn’t “extra.” It’s leverage and part of a complete media show or podcast. Journalists regularly turn their written work into audio, which is something they likely didn’t see coming. But it signals that both text and audio mediums are coming to the same conclusion. The Atlantic doubling down on its investments in video podcasts signals that the medium doesn’t matter; creators, agencies, and newsrooms alike should be aiming to be wherever their audience is.
However, deciding how big you want to go can be complicated. This quote from Chris Balfe in Business Insider actually helped put things in perspective for me:
What's the exposure vs. what's the dollars? And me being a crass capitalist pig, I'm much more in favor of less people knowing you and you making more money.
In the article, he argues that creating a ton of podcast clips from your show devalues the IP and makes social platforms money, not creators. Outside of YouTube, social platforms are traditionally very bad at sharing ad revenue with creators, no matter how many views they generate. He’s one of many media buyers and ad-world veterans who will tell you it’s risky to leave YouTube. I’m inclined to agree. YouTube is infrastructure. It’s search. It’s discovery. It’s a predictable engine. AND it is one of the few, if not the only, video platforms that give you true control over your audience. And yet, even some of the people most skeptical of leaving YouTube can still recognize why creators want network or streamer backing—as long as creators retain control of their audience and their future.
That condition matters. Because the actual asset isn’t the show. It’s the relationship between creator and community. If a network deal turns your audience into someone else’s customer list, you didn’t scale—you sold off the foundation. The new creator negotiation, then, isn’t just “how much money.” It’s:
Who owns the IP?
Who owns the email list, the subscribers, the community touchpoints?
What happens after the season ends?
The best deals don’t just pay. They preserve optionality. Because exposure is the oldest currency in media, and one of the most misleading. A creator can rack up views and still be broke; this video from creator @chescaleigh is a great example of this. A creator can be widely known and still have no control. And a creator can be “everywhere” while their business stays fragile, dependent on a platform they don’t own.
Chris Balfe’s quote was crass, sure—but it’s also a business reality check. The goal isn’t always/only fame. The goal is sustainability and autonomy. And sometimes the best path to that is not maximum reach. It’s the right reach—paired with ownership. This “podcast-to-TV pipeline” can sound like something only huge shows can access. But the deeper lesson is usable even if you never want Netflix involved. It’s about building your work in a way that creates options:
Treat your show as IP: recurring segments, characters, narrative arcs, distinct tone.
Build audience touchpoints you own: newsletter, memberships, paid community, direct sales from your own products.
Use video strategically: not to chase virality, but to increase portability and deal-readiness. (something I’ve had to come to terms with this year)
Protect your distribution: don’t let a “growth” opportunity lock you into dependency.
Negotiate for control: if you do partner, ensure the partnership doesn’t erase your leverage. A lot of times, this means walking away from brands that simply want to slap their logo on your show for a paycheck. I won’t say any names, but I’ve seen it happen.
The future belongs to creators who can do two things at once: make something people love, and structure it so they don’t lose themselves (or their audience) when bigger opportunities show up. Because “dreaming bigger” doesn’t have to mean becoming mainstream. Sometimes it just means building something that can travel—on your terms.
👩🏽💻 Refer Friends → Earn Rewards
Know someone who'd also love this article? Share this story with them: {{rp_refer_url}}
Yes, I’m using my own product to promote my own product. That’s how much I love it, and I know you will too.
If you’d like to sponsor editions of Please Hustle Responsibly and reach {{active_subscriber_count}} marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs, you can respond to this email or visit our media page below.