Apple is getting in on the rise of the video podcast.
The tech company is set to start rolling out video on its popular podcast app. It comes over 20 years after Apple first started supporting podcasts via iTunes and launched a standalone app in 2012.
The move comes as the battle for video podcast intensifies with Netflix aggressively striking deals with podcast creators to move their video streams from YouTube to its own service. The streamer has struck deals with the likes of The Ringer and Barstool Sports and debuted its first original series, The Pete Davidson Show, which doesn’t even have an audio component. Apple rival Spotify has also heavily invested in the video podcast space.
Apple is launching video today in beta versions of its new iOS 26.4 system before rolling out wider across iPhones and iPads this spring.
It will use its HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology, which will allow users to switch between watching and listening to shows. Users can watch video from within the app and can also download videos to watch offline.
The company has started working with a number of podcast providers and networks to allow podcast creators to insert video ads, including host-read spots, in their shows. Its first tranche of deals are with Acast, Amazon’s ART19, Triton’s Omny Studio; SiriusXM, AdsWizz, and Simplecast and expects more providers in the future.
“Twenty years ago, Apple helped take podcasting mainstream by adding podcasts to iTunes, and more than a decade ago, we introduced the dedicated Apple Podcasts app,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP, Services. “Today marks a defining milestone in that journey. By bringing a category-leading video experience to Apple Podcasts, we’re putting creators in full control of their content and how they build their businesses, while making it easier than ever for audiences to listen to or watch podcasts.”