Apple Talks HLS, Audible Debuts NielsenIQ Spoken Word Data, & More

Today in the business of podcasting:Apple Podcasts product manager Ted Hosmann explains how video podcasts work over HLS at the IETF’s HLS Interest Day. He says top shows have grown their audience more than 20% on average since adding video, and Apple has also quietly acqui-hired members of the team behind AI audio startup Huxe.Audible and NielsenIQ surveyed 18,000 spoken-word listeners across 11 countries. 34% say they listened to more audio than the year before, and 50% are open to AI-narrated content.Digiday reports that top creators like Alix Earle and Kevin Cooney are cutting their brand rosters and asking more of the partners they keep, including equity and product input.PQ Media says global product placement spending hit $37.16 billion in 2025, with music and audio the fastest-growing category thanks to placements in popular podcasts.RSS.com launches a free in-browser transcription tool built on OpenAI’s open-source Whisper model, so audio never leaves the user’s device.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.