By Rob Greenlee – Get Help Rebooting or Starting a New Show Podcast here
I am very happy, and I want to congratulate the Apple Podcasts team on choosing an innovative path to better embrace video, which was very much needed in the market. Yet at the same time, it created another point of conflict with many who view all podcasting as RSS-based, as this new video deployment aligns only slightly with open RSS standards.
It’s true that Apple helped lead the early RSS-based podcasting era with an iTunes namespace extension on top of RSS that included support for video downloads via RSS for many years, along with audio, but Apple also walked away from video discovery in the Podcasts app long ago.
Over time, Apple’s UI and UX treated video like a second-class citizen. Playback behavior and product emphasis clearly catered to audio-first listeners, while video became effectively undiscoverable for mainstream users.
That Video Vacuum at Apple Podcasts Mattered
“Apple’s decision not to actively promote video in its directory experience gave Spotify and YouTube years of runway to become the default destinations for video podcasts. And to be fair, when video creators first wanted free hosting, YouTube was the obvious winner. Podcasting began as an audio and video medium, but creator behavior followed distribution incentives, and the biggest video incentive lived outside Apple’s ecosystem: free file-hosting at YouTube.“
Now, Apple is clearly re-entering the video conversation with a more modern, competitive approach that uses a technical revenue model based on advertising, without Apple getting into the advertising business, which it has historically failed at. Integrated video inside the Podcasts app, powered by HLS, HTTP Live Streaming. Apple says this new experience will let audiences switch seamlessly between listening and watching, go full-screen horizontally, and download videos for offline viewing.
Here’s the tradeoff. Apple is not extending this upgrade through the open RSS model in a way that strengthens the broader ecosystem. Instead, it’s leaning into an API based publishing workflow that requires an Apple Podcasts Connect API key and a participating hosting provider to deliver HLS video. That’s a meaningful step toward platform-controlled syndication, not open distribution.
The Bigger Issue: Two Video Podcasting Systems Now Exist in Apple Podcasts
Apple is effectively creating, or accelerating, a split reality.
- Legacy RSS video, MP4 enclosures. Still possible, still supported. Apple explicitly says video podcasts using standard RSS feeds remain available to all creators through many hosting providers.
- New HLS integrated streaming video via API publishing. A higher quality, more native Apple experience, but currently gated through a short list of participating hosting partners and an API key workflow.
This is where confusion explodes across the industry. Audio and video are increasingly treated as separate syndication protocols and upload workflows, depending on the platform, including a third option: direct video upload to Spotify and YouTube. These two platforms also support API-based video podcast publishing from a variety of podcasting hosting platforms today.
This complexity makes distribution management harder for creators to understand and manage, and it does not advance the open RSS model. If anything, it nudges podcasting toward an optional future without RSS. It does offer a video path for creators to the three big video platforms – YouTube, Spotify, and now Apple Podcasts.
And if Apple really wanted to support a future-proof open ecosystem, it could have embraced the Podcasting 2.0 standards track, specifically the Alternative Enclosures specification, so creators could cleanly support audio and video with HLS in a single RSS feed across apps. Instead, we’re seeing the gravitational pull toward platform APIs grow stronger for publishing on these big platforms.
Partnerships, four launch partners are a narrow funnel
Apple says HLS video distribution will be supported at launch by four primary partners: Acast, ART19 (Amazon), Omny Studio (iHeart/Triton), and Simplecast (SiriusXM Media and AdsWizz).
The Top 3 Largest Audio Podcast Hosting platforms – (1) Spotify for Creators (may never be), (2) Spreaker, (3) Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Podbean, Blubrry, and Megaphone (may never be) are not on the partner list yet.
I hope Apple expands quickly beyond these initial partners, not just for more options, but because limiting HLS video enablement to a handful of large players risks putting many hosting platforms at a competitive disadvantage. That’s not a small ripple. It could also reshape where creators host audio, too, if video becomes a key first driver expectation.
Apple’s hosting provider directory is creating unnecessary confusion
On Apple’s Podcast hosting providers directory page, most providers are currently marked as Not offered for Video, while those four launch partners are marked Offered.
The problem is that many hosts do support video distribution today via a video-only RSS feed and an MP4 enclosure. Apple even acknowledges separately that RSS video remains available through many providers, yet those hosting providers are shown on the partners page as not supporting video in the Apple Podcasts directory platform.
So the directory experience, as currently presented, risks misleading creators into thinking that video podcasts aren’t supported unless they use one of the four big company partner hosting platforms, when Apple really means that the new HLS-integrated video workflow is currently limited to those 4 participating partners.
Apple Can Fix This Simply By Clarifying It’s Messaging
– Video HLS Streaming Enabled, and Video via RSS MP4 enclosure
– Or a note that the Video column refers to HLS publishing eligibility, not RSS video capability.
– The above clarification would prevent a lot of unnecessary churn for podcast hosting companies.
Monetization, A New Lever, But Also A New Tollbooth
Apple is pitching creator control and new monetization upside, including dynamic insertion of video ads, including DAI host-read, and baked-in host-reads will still be allowed. Apple also says it won’t charge hosting providers or creators to distribute content on Apple Podcasts, whether via RSS, MP3, or HLS video.
But Apple will charge participating ad networks an impression-based fee for delivering dynamic ads in HLS video starting later this year. That’s a big signal. Even if Apple doesn’t charge creators directly, Apple is positioning itself inside the video ad delivery chain.
What I’m watching next
If Apple is serious about embracing video again, the next moves matter more
– Expand HLS video support beyond four partners quickly
– Clarify the provider podcast partner directory so creators understand RSS video versus HLS video
– Support open standards pathways like Podcasting 2.0 (Podcast Standards Project) “Alternative Enclosure” tag, not just platform APIs for media file publishing, so podcasting doesn’t drift further away from RSS
– Make video discovery inside the app actually discoverable and competitive with the other major video platforms, in the area of UX/UI labeling and search discovery.
Because the real story isn’t that Apple added video. The real story is that Apple is choosing how video enters the podcasting ecosystem, and that choice influences whether podcasting stays open with RSS or becomes an API-based platform-syndicated media model, with RSS as a legacy, declining on-ramp.
About the Author
Rob Greenlee is a Podcast Hall of Fame inductee and global new media leader who bridges podcasting’s roots with its AI-driven future. As founder of Trust Factor Lab and host of the “New Media Show” and “Spoken Human”, Rob helps creators start, grow, monetize, and future-proof their content. He’s held leadership roles at Microsoft, Spreaker, Libsyn, StreamYard, and PodcastOne, and serves as Chairperson of the Podcast Hall of Fame. Learn more at RobGreenlee.com, NewMediaShow.com and join the Trust Factor Lab Creator/Podcast Services.