Spotify adopting Apple’s new video podcast tech for easier cross-platform publishing

Spotify is making two video podcast announcements today, including one related to Apple’s big video podcast enhancement.

Spotify is embracing Apple’s HLS technology for streaming video podcasts

Earlier this year, Apple unveiled a major upgrade to the video experience for Apple Podcasts. The company deployed its HTTP Live Streaming technology to enhance how video shows in Apple Podcasts are delivered and consumed.

Apple shipped the upgraded experience for iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro, and the web at the end of March. Hopefully, Apple’s OS 27 software updates bring enhanced video podcasts to the Mac and Apple TV next month.

In the meantime, Spotify has announced plans to adopt Apple’s HLS technology for video podcasts as well.

This move will allow creators to easily distribute video podcast shows for both Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“Starting this year, Spotify for Creators and Megaphone will support Apple Podcasts’ HLS video technology,” the company says.

“This will enable Spotify-hosted creators to distribute their video podcast content across platforms, reaching audiences on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts without changing their existing setup — a major step toward truly platform-agnostic video distribution.”

More details on upcoming Spotify and Apple Podcasts video distribution

Additionally, Spotify will support “monetization for video content on Apple Podcasts so creators don’t have to choose between audience reach and revenue.”

Spotify says it’s “actively working on this integration in coordination with Apple” and will have more to share on “timeline details” in the near future.

As part of the announcement, the company includes two additional details about distributing from Spotify platforms to Apple.

First, there’s this bit on the difference between distribution between platforms:

In order to provide Spotify-first streaming capabilities, Spotify requires content to be directly uploaded to the platform instead of distributed through standardized methods, such as RSS.

This enables us to provide creators with the powerful tools they need to take full advantage of Spotify’s streaming strength, such as monetization based on actual user engagement, real-time performance analytics, and more.

While this does change how video shows are distributed to Spotify, this also allows creators to easily tap into Spotify-first advantages while continuing to use RSS for distribution elsewhere. 

Next, there’s this detail on managing monetization across platforms:

We will share more information soon on how video monetization for Apple Podcasts-distributed video will work through our creator platforms. However, our goal is to make monetization easy no matter where your content is viewed.

Spotify expands video support to leading podcast hosting providers

Separately, Spotify is announcing new ways to bring video podcasts to its platform.

Earlier this year, we announced that leading podcast hosting providers would integrate with the Spotify Distribution API to support video. Today, Libsyn, Podigee, Audioboom, Audiomeans, and Podspace are officially live.

This means creators using these platforms can now distribute video content directly to Spotify and monetize eligible content through the Spotify Partner Program.

In the near future, partners will also have access to additional monetization options, including direct sales. With additional partner integrations in progress, this momentum is only accelerating.

While the Apple HLS changes are expected later this year, these changes are live starting today. You can learn more about the changes from Spotify here.

9to5Mac’s Take

Spotify’s announcement that it is working on supporting Apple’s enhanced video podcast technology is great news for podcast listeners and creators alike.

Spotify has been instrumental in pushing video podcasts forward. Apple’s implementation came much later, but the underlying technology is sound.

While Apple’s video podcast push created feature parity for modern video podcast playback, it also created a split for how creators make shows.

Today’s announcement from Spotify shows how everyone can benefit from advancements in video podcast tech starting later this year.

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