by Gavin Gaddis

Incredible news on the homefront: we’ve reached a new personal record of 16 birds on our patio at the same time. We’re the hottest spot in town for finches. Before I go buy more seed to top up the feeders, let’s take a look back at how the podcasting flock has been doing this week.

“Sports podcasts perform” is one of those things the industry says without ever showing the work. On May 13 at 2 PM ET, Bryan Goldmark from Locked On and Tom Webster are going to show the work — the attention numbers, the trust numbers, and the actual brand campaigns those numbers translated into. Register here.

Sound Insights founder Ben Robins shares data from The 2026 U.K. Advertising Landscape Study, built from a survey of 5,033 U.K. adults aged 18+ in February 2026. Covering 20+ ad-supported media platforms across four dimensions (reach, attention, trust, and effectiveness), the survey replicated the U.S. Advertising Landscape study methodology conducted by Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill Insights, creating a direct transatlantic comparison. 

For this post in particular, Robins looks at the reach of broadcast TV in the U.K. in comparison to podcasting. Broadcast TV reaches 71% of U.K. adults monthly, but when you zoom in to age demographics, things get more divided. A quote from Robins:

“Podcasting reaches 43% of UK adults monthly. Lower overall, yes. But among 18-34 year olds? 60%.

Podcasting reaches more 18-34 year olds in the UK than broadcast TV.

In the demographic that advertisers most want to reach — the one with decades of purchasing decisions ahead of them — podcasting has already overtaken the medium that still dominates media planning conversations.” 

Robins concludes that media planners targeting UK adults under 45 at scale can no longer view podcasting as niche. In some cases, it's the primary option.

Transistor.fm co-founder Justin Jackson shares the experience of the podcast Primary Technology after it switched to publishing video episodes using Apple Podcasts HLS, as it was the first podcast on Transistor to make the switch. Co-host Stephen Robles's screenshots show Apple plays "roughly doubled," with engaged listeners rising from 707 (episode 121, pre-switch) to 1,072 (episode 126). 

Since launching video, Primary Technology has charted in the top 50 tech shows on Apple Podcasts, a notably competitive category. The success also seems to not be coming at the expense of other channels. Both the show’s YouTube and audio platforms continue to perform at expected levels, signaling Apple Podcasts video consumers aren’t primarily existing audience members siphoned off another platform. 

Robles notes a few downsides to the video transition, as feature roadbumps are causing confusion/experience downgrades for some consumers. The current implementation of video on Apple Podcasts, according to Robles, doesn’t allow for chapters or synced transcripts on shows with video. A quote from Robles:

“Paid subscribers in Apple Podcasts now get the worst experience of anyone who consumes our show. Subscriber audio still doesn't have chapters (Apple still strips out the ones in our MP3 file), and there's no video. I've had a number of people say they started supporting the show and ask "how to get the video." Unfortunately there is no option for "subscriber video" right now from Apple.”

Jackson notes Apple has been listening to creator feedback, and guesses many of the items Robles identified as pain points are on Apple’s roadmap for updates. For Robles, the short-term speed bumps are worth the overall audience gain from switching to Apple Podcasts HLS distribution.

Speaking of Apple Podcasts HLS: it’s been a busy week for news in that sector.

John Spurlock has rolled out a list of video podcasts that use the alternate enclosure HLS tag, which enables both video and audio to be distributed in the same RSS feed. According to Podnews reporting, the alternate enclosure tag is not yet supported by Apple Podcasts but is supported by Transistor, Fountain, Disctopia, RSS.com, Flightcast, and PeerTube. Apps like Fountain, Podcast Guru, Podcast Addict, and Truefans support playback of alternate enclosure tagged feeds. Meanwhile, in the world of HLS podcasting, Buzzsprout announced its video distribution to Apple Podcasts HLS is out of beta and available to all users. Uploading a video to Buzzsprout automatically sends it to Apple Podcasts while distributing the audio across all platforms. 

As of this week, Podigee users have the ability to upload a video file once and distribute it out to major podcast platforms, both video and audio. The feature is available in every Podigee plan, with plans for more video destinations and future tools for video podcast workflows.

And finally, Captivate has launched official support for Apple Podcasts video distribution, including a handy official guide on setting up Apple Podcasts HLS video for a Captivate-hosted podcast.

A short but informative bit of news to end out the week’s recap: Starting July 15, 2026, Megaphone will transfer campaign management to the Spotify Ad Server (SAS). This will enable new formats, including video. According to Podnews, the ability to serve third-party ads via video ad serving template (VAST) will be removed entirely. Pre-booking using the new system starts May 15.

April’s Podscribe Rankings showed stability at the top of podcasting  but notable movement underneath the surface. 

Seven of the top 10 podcasts by audio reach saw listener declines, while The Daily, Pod Save America, and This American Life were the only shows trending upward.

Podcast Advertiser, Shopify claimed the #1 spend spot, and brands including Lowe’s, Wayfair, and PureTalk entered the rankings for the first time.

While they may not be top story material, the articles below from this week are definitely worth your time: