Apple Podcasts is lastly giving video a full embrace.
The tech big, which pioneered the podcast audio format and helped popularize it, has confronted stepped-up competitors from video podcast viewing on YouTube and Spotify.
On Monday, Apple stated it is going to convey “superior video capabilities” to Apple Podcasts this spring. These shall be obtainable on iPhone, iPad and Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, in addition to through Apple Podcasts on the net.
Within the Apple Podcasts app, for exhibits with video, customers will be capable to swap between watching and listening to exhibits. You’ll be capable to watch video from throughout the app and transfer to horizontal full show, in addition to obtain movies to observe offline. Video episodes shall be built-in with present Apple Podcasts options, together with customized suggestions and editorial curation on the “New” tab and in Class pages.
Apple has supported video codecs for podcasts since 2005. Nevertheless, till now, the Apple Podcasts app has distributed video podcasts utilizing RSS. When you wished to have each audio-only and video variations of a podcast, that has required two separate present entries in Apple Podcasts.
The improved video podcast expertise in Apple Podcasts makes use of the Apple-developed HTTP Stay Streaming (HLS) protocol. That gives adaptive streaming options, to mechanically regulate bandwidth utilization relying on community connectivity. And, for the primary time, the addition of HLS help will let creators dynamically insert video adverts — together with host-read spots — into their podcasts.
As of Monday (Feb. 16), HLS video in Apple Podcasts is obtainable for testing in developer beta variations of iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4 and visionOS 26.4.
Eddy Cue, Apple SVP of Providers, stated in an announcement, “Twenty years in the past, Apple helped take podcasting mainstream by including podcasts to iTunes, and greater than a decade in the past, we launched the devoted Apple Podcasts app. At the moment marks a defining milestone in that journey. By bringing a category-leading video expertise to Apple Podcasts, we’re placing creators in full management of their content material and the way they construct their companies, whereas making it simpler than ever for audiences to hearken to or watch podcasts.”
Creators shall be distribute video podcasts on Apple Podcasts via taking part internet hosting suppliers and advert networks. The 4 corporations initially supporting HLS video in Apple Podcasts are: Acast; Amazon’s ART19; Triton Digital’s Omny Studio (a part of iHeartMedia); and SiriusXM’s SiriusXM Media, AdsWizz and Simplecast, are supporting HLS video at launch, with further suppliers to hitch sooner or later.
Apple doesn’t cost internet hosting suppliers or creators to distribute podcasts on Apple Podcasts, whether or not through conventional RSS/MP3 or HLS video. The corporate stated it is going to cost taking part advert networks an impression-based payment for the supply of dynamic adverts in HLS video on Apple Podcasts beginning later in 2026.
“Podcasting has developed leaps and bounds over the previous decade, and this innovation from Apple helps to maintain the integrity of what makes the medium so particular, whereas enhancing video and audio with new capabilities as the 2 codecs proceed to converge,” Scott Walker, SiriusXM’s chief promoting income officer, stated in an announcement.
“Video is the following chapter for podcasting,” ART19 CEO Geoff Mattei added. “Simplifying audio distribution and empowering creators with versatile monetization options are what ART19 was constructed on, and now video deserves that very same expertise.”
Acast CEO Greg Glenday commented that its integration with Apple Podcasts’ new video options “reinforces our place as an important progress engine for contemporary podcast companies. We’re guaranteeing that no creator or advertiser leaves income or attain on the desk.” And Sharon Taylor, Triton Digital’s chief income officer, commented on Apple’s expanded transfer into video: “An open method that permits publishers to retain management over their audiences, promoting, and measurement — whereas increasing entry to content material throughout codecs — helps long-term progress and better alternative for listeners.”
Apple Podcasts gives entry to tens of millions of exhibits throughout lots of of classes in 170-plus nations and territories. The app helps premium subscriptions, permitting creators and publishers to offer subscribers with advantages like unique content material and ad-free listening.
