New Apple Podcasts features in iOS 27, tvOS 27, and macOS 27
Apple rolled out its fall operating systems this week, and Apple Podcasts came with a wide batch of new features. Video is the throughline. Apple TV gets a completely redesigned app with sidebar navigation, video podcast playback, and channel browsing that surfaces ad-free and early-access options, while macOS now launches straight into a video player with full-screen and picture-in-picture modes. Across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS, video episodes gain full read-along transcripts, chapters, and media links, and a new Search in Show bar lets listeners find episodes by guest, title, keyword, or mention in the transcript.
Amazon Music expands its global video podcast partnerships
Amazon Music is making a video move of its own, rolling out a wave of new video podcast partnerships. Shows hosted on ART19, Triton Digital’s Omny Studio, and Flightcast are now integrated. SiriusXM, Megaphone, and Libsyn support is expected in the coming months, pulling in publishers like iHeartMedia, Spotify, NBC Sports, and Headgum. Amazon also pushed video beyond the US into the UK, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan, added offline downloads, and now lets listeners switch between video and audio inside the app. “Customers have been telling us they want the flexibility to watch their favorite podcasts, in addition to listening,” said Shea Simpson, Amazon Music’s Head of Spoken Word. Importantly for creators, publishers keep control of hosting, ad inventory, and targeting, with dynamic video ad insertion layered on top.
The Podcast Study 2026 Reveals the Power of Trust, Hosts, and New Revenue Opportunities
Built from a nationally-representative survey of 1,205 podcast listeners, The Podcast Study 2026 finds 82% of respondents feel the podcast host is a significant (or only) reason for consuming their favorite show. 88% spend at least half their listening time with a single favorite. That trust carries into advertising, where listeners are far more likely to remember, notice, and act on host-read ads than other formats. The study also maps new revenue paths. 45% are open to paying for a subscription that strips every ad except host endorsements, about half of them at 3 to 5 dollars a month, and 75% would accept interest-based targeting to keep podcasts free. Conducted by Strategic Solutions Research and Point-To-Point Marketing and co-sponsored by Crooked Media, NPR, and PRX, the findings debuted at this week’s Sounds Profitable Business Summit under the banner “Buying Trust, Not Just Reach,” with a four-part free webinar series to follow.
NPR loads up its fall slate
NPR has had a busy week! Here’s a roundup of announcements so far: ad a busy news day of its own. The headliner is Machine Gods, a video-first, twice-weekly show from Hard Fork creators Kevin Roose and Casey Newton that launches in October across the NPR app, YouTube, and podcast platforms. The show will reach Member stations in early 2027. NPR and Member station WBUR are also launching Your Turn with Allison Aubrey, a midlife-focused show from the veteran Health and Science correspondent arriving mid-October, while Planet Money’s The Indicator expands into the weekend with Saturday episodes starting this winter.
Members of the Podcast Standards Project are meeting tomorrow
Members of the Podcast Standards Project are gathering tomorrow during Podcast Movement, meeting over the lunch break at 12:30 at Morty’s Wine and Beer Bar, a few minutes’ walk from the Terminal 5 venue. The grassroots coalition, which pushes for new features that improve the open podcasting ecosystem for listeners and creators, is welcoming anyone who builds for open podcasting, member or not, with food and drink provided by RSS.com. A draft agenda is open for attendees to add topics ahead of time, and registration runs through the event page.
…as for the rest of the news:
- The IAB held its inaugural CreatorFronts conference, aimed at standardizing the plumbing behind creator marketing as more than 44 billion dollars flows into the tactic in the US. Digiday also covered the event, focusing on what’s holding back CFO buy-in on creator marketing.
- Triton Digital rolled out Demos+ Demographic Targeting in its Triton Ad Platform, live now in the US, Australia, and the Netherlands.
- Lower Street has promoted Elizabeth Amos to its first Chief Content Officer.
- Audion has named Mike Villalobos their Chief Revenue Officer to lead a US expansion that has grown its team to five since April.
- SMAC Entertainment co-founders Constance Schwartz-Morini and Michael Strahan debut their first podcast, Hustle Like You’re Broke.
- Barometer named Magellan AI its exclusive measurement partner for programmatic podcast campaigns.
