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• Apple launched iOS 26.4, and with it, access to the new video experience within Apple Podcasts. Apple also confirmed additional podcast hosting companies will support HLS video: Podspace, Riverside, Ausha, and Firstory have been added to the list (see our story for the full set).
  • Your iPhone will offer an update within the next few weeks; but you can update it today by following Apple’s instructions.
  • One of the podcast hosting companies supporting it, Transistor, has posted a guide; in a video, Stephen Robles shows the iOS experience.
• The absence of support from Spotify/Megaphone at launch may mean that many users won’t see the shows they’re expecting in video within the app (including shows like Joe Rogan and The Ringer titles); Apple says more content will roll out throughout the year. John Spurlock reports just 48 shows available in video at launch; the majority with Acast.
  • The availability of video podcasts isn’t promoted within the iOS update overview, though it is promoted when a user opens the Apple Podcasts app for the first time after upgrading. The Apple Podcasts web app (which also works on Android) has been updated to offer full video support; but the Apple Podcasts macOS app doesn’t support HLS video. In the most glaring omission, the Apple TV doesn’t support HLS video podcasting either.
  • In a piece written in December 2024, Eric Johnson reminds us that video comes with trade-offs.
• About a quarter of Americans claim that they have never consumed a podcast. Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster today shares The Last Quarter, examining the people who haven’t, yet, tried a podcast - and whether we can still reach them. Nearly 6 in 10 of them are using ad-supported premium video streaming, we learn; and 57% of them are using YouTube.

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