Most “best video podcasts” lists are always going to be the same five names ranked by total audience: Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, Diary of a CEO, Smartless, Call Her Daddy. This is all useful if you want to find the most popular podcast on YouTube. This isn’t helpful if you’re looking for the best video podcasts on a topic, like current events or celebrity gossip, that fit your viewing habits.
This list is sorted by format (interview, narrative, panel, solo essay, comedy, B2B), with an editor’s comment about what each show’s crew excels at. The 30 shows below are the video podcasts our team at Vidpros actually watched in 2026, not ones that appeared on a chart. For the broader video podcast market and how it developed, read more on our video podcast hub.
Best Interview Podcasts
The interview format is by far the largest and has the most variation in production quality.
The Joe Rogan Experience
(Hosted by Joe Rogan, from Austin, TX.) Long-form, spontaneous interviews. 3 cameras, great lighting, cutaways for video clips from the guest and props. According to Podcast Monkey on its 2026 YouTube list: “The Joe Rogan Experience is known for its long-form, spontaneous interviews.” Editor’s comment: switch over to whoever has the funniest face; that’s how Rogan does it.
Lex Fridman Podcast
In-studio, documentary style. A single, steady shot from a wide angle and then from close up, not many cuts. From u/SilentHourPodcast in the thread on his favorite video podcasts: “I’m going to pick Lex Fridman. When you see him on camera it’s a whole different feel to the show.”
Diary of a CEO (Steven Bartlett)
Elaborate set, 3+ camera setup, producer’s table is visible. The video podcast show that showed the business world what is possible when you shoot a podcast like a Netflix documentary. Study their YouTube thumbnails.
The Shawn Ryan Show
Interviews with soldiers and veterans. Minimalistic, simple set design that signals this is serious business; great audio quality. Rogan does this too but I’m giving it a mention here.
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Casual, video-heavy, consistently funny. From u/Bill197: “Good interviews and good conversations with popular guests from his previous shows.”
Smartless (Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett)
3 hosts interviewing celebrities for comedic entertainment. From u/gawkersgone: “3 comedians interviewing other actors. It’s super fun and friendly kinda like listening to friends rib eachother.”
Best Narrative Video Podcasts
Narrative is hard to get right in video. Audio podcasts were the best at storytelling for the last 10 years. But video podcasts have to add something in order to make it worth a viewer’s time. The show’s below do that well.
Rotten Mango (Stephanie Soo)
True crime narrative, heavy with captions. From Podcast Monkey: “Rotten Mango earns its place… with its gripping true crime storytelling.”
Fall of Civilizations
Multi-hour narrative with lots of archival footage, text overlays and maps. From u/F1Fan43: “Fall of Civilizations that’s really good for this… The production value is incredible too.”
The NYT Presents
Video documentaries. The webby-award-winning storytelling podcast has proven that high-quality video content gets more view-time than just a straight interview.
Ear Biscuits (Rhett & Link)
Personal storytelling podcasts produced by the Good Mythical Morning crew. 2 cameras, plus a wide shot.
Dimension 20
A video podcast about role-playing games in live action with a narrative style. From u/ThreeHeadedWhale: “If you like DnD or RPGs at all, Dimension 20 is really good.”
Best Panel and Roundtable Podcasts
A panel format is very complex. 4+ cameras, mixed sound from all speakers, dynamic shot selection.
The H3 Podcast (Ethan and Hila Klein)
Group discussions with lots of editing. Memes, reaction footage, cutaways. This video podcast is the shorthand example for YouTube channels built off viral clips.
Kill Tony
Live video podcast from a comedy show where comedians get roasted. Single locked-off camera, no post editing, the editing happens in the room with the audience.
My First Million (Sam Parr, Shaan Puri)
Business and startups panel podcast. From u/BrianZwerner: “Two really good biz/tech shows on YouTube: My First Million.”
All-In Podcast (Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, David Friedberg)
A technology and business roundtable with a quad screen layout that has become the standard for panel shows on YouTube.
The Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
The video podcast version of a radio interview show with high production values.
Best Solo and Essay Video Podcasts
Solo video podcasts are difficult to pull off. When there’s nobody else to cut the show down to, the show depends on the host to hold your attention.
Dear Hank and John (Hank and John Green)
Sincere self-reflection and advice. These two brothers from the Vlogbrothers channel have a lot of experience with self-tape video, which they transfer well to a video podcast.
Mind Gap
The best reviewed solo reflections on Goodpods’ chart of video podcasts.
Contrapoints (Natalie Wynn)
Video essay podcast of substantial length. Probably the most cinematic solo video podcast in the business. From u/zeroicestop: “Contrapoints.”
Real Ones (Jon Bernthal)
Hybrid of solo monologue and interviews with high production value.
The best comedy video podcasts
Comedians who have dropped their video editions for other podcasts aren’t doing it for this article. Below you will see that these edits enhance the laughs.
Trash Taste
Anime, video games, culture, and the occasional hot take. This panel show, featuring three permanent hosts, is a good example of how to build a YouTube channel around a podcast.
Smosh Reads Reddit
Reddit reads. This is a reaction show that moves fast.
Doughboys
Food reviews with some laughs. “Doughboys – food review/comedy podcast – has a YouTube channel.” (u/Catsandcoffee480)
Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker
This talk show mixes surreal comedy and real talk. Video is used as a tool to ramp up the weirdness.
Take Your Shoes Off with Rick Glassman
The best example of the video edition of a podcast. “The best example of video editing (and sometimes animation) heightening the podcast experience.” (u/sa_nick)
Best business and B2B video podcasts
Video podcasts that B2B operators produce generally do better than those done by agencies. The following are video editions of a podcast, not just a clip of it.
Acquired (Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal)
It is long-form. It discusses the history of companies. The video edition includes chapter markers, financial graphics, and document overlays for text to be read in place of audio.
The Logan Bartlett Show
The host interviews venture capitalists. This is a video edition that features a high budget for a podcast.
20VC (Harry Stebbings)
It is a conversation with a founder or investor. Fast edits, a visible production team and multiple camera angles.
Lenny’s Podcast
The host speaks with product managers. It is mostly solo but sometimes includes a guest. Good for video.
Where to watch video podcasts (Spotify, YouTube, Apple)
You can find most of the above shows on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. YouTube is where you go to find video podcasts, in that it has the largest content library and only video algorithm that suggests podcasts to viewers who do not subscribe. “I personally don’t know anyone who watches videos on Spotify haha.” (u/JordanPods on r/podcasting) You can watch them in video editions on Spotify and Apple. Most podcast consumption occurs on YouTube.
Check out how YouTube podcasts grow for more YouTube-specific tactics. Look at our coverage on Spotify’s video podcasts to find out more about the platform. You can find out more about the network behind the above video podcasts, including Maximum Fun, Pushkin, Wondery and iHeart in the networks behind the top video podcasts.
What you can learn from the top video podcasts: editor notes
There are several key elements in the production of each of the top shows above.
- Cut quickly to a reaction rather than to the speaker. The Rogan editors make this edit often. If you see a face during a silence, the emotion you see on it tells you more about the scene than what someone says.
- The only B-roll that is used is to provide detail. Acquired provides text documents of financial statements. Rotten Mango shares a picture of the locations being discussed during a true crime story. Do not add B-roll that is irrelevant and does not provide detail (generic stock footage).
- Make the video look the same every episode. If you watch all of the Lex Fridman episodes you will get that look. The background, the lighting, the set, the text. It makes a podcast more professional to maintain a look.
- Use captions for everything, and make sure they are captioned with text that can be cropped into a vertical video. Many podcasters find a clip from one of these on TikTok or Instagram reels. Make sure the captions are easily cropped into vertical formats.
- Get to the point in 30 seconds or less. Thumbnail and the first 30 seconds is where a viewer decides to keep watching the video.
If you don’t have an internal editor team but want to make a video podcast like these, we created this post to share how our team edits our clients’ podcasts. The data on this rise in video podcasts is in the boom in video podcasts.
Other resources and background
If you are interested in video podcasts, here are a couple of sources: Podcasts 100 on video podcasts. Podcasting on YouTube from Podcast Monkey. Leaderboard for video podcasts from Goodpods. You can learn more about how this has changed things by reading TechBuzz’s write on the topic here.
If you’d like your show to be more like these shows, you will find that editing is where the gaps are, even if you aren’t that big. Our podcast production company works with small, medium, and big shows in order to get you to the quality of these shows. Send us a link to a recent episode from your show and we will create a clip to see what we can do. We’ll let you decide.
Sources: YouTube podcast list at Podcast Monkey (2026); Feedspot video podcast top 100. Goodpods video leaderboard. Reddit podcasts threads from r/podcasting and r/podcasts (linked in-line). Coverage of the Apple’s video podcast launch by TechBuzz. The shows we feature here were selected by Vidpros editors in early 2026 on the basis of watch experience; things change quickly.
