New Apple Podcasts HLS Host, Digital Audio's 2025 Consumer Spend, & More

Podcast Description

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Bloomberg's Ashley Carman surveys the growing landscape of AI-generated podcasts, examining how hosting platforms like RSS.com are setting monetization guardrails and how Spotify is rolling out a new badge to authenticate real music artists.
• John Spurlock's HLS Podcast Radar tracks video podcasts using the alternate enclosure tag, which several hosting platforms support but Apple Podcasts does not, as Buzzsprout announces that its video distribution to Apple Podcasts is out of beta and available to all users.
• New PQ Media data shows digital audio recorded the fastest consumer spending growth rate among all media categories in 2025, even as audio overall ranks last in total spending out of the $2.4 trillion consumers spent on media content and technology.
• A Scalable report examines the scale of creator-led media companies, including Beast Industries, which employs around 750 people and ranks among the less than 1% of U.S. companies with over 500 employees.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.