iHeartRadio announces support for video podcasts

• The iHeartRadio app in the US is to support video podcasts in early 2026, the company has announced. “Creators will be able to upload their podcast episodes, including full-length video versions, through their standard RSS feeds for seamless distribution in iHeartRadio,” the company says. This is properly open podcasting: video won’t need to be hosted on iHeart itself. We’ve asked for technical details.

  • Some of iHeart’s own video podcasts won’t, however, be in the iHeartRadio app in video, after the company signed an exclusivity deal with Netflix earlier this month.

• Meta’s Threads social network is to launch podcast previews - a way to upload clips to the platform - in a bid to attract more creators. It launched podcast links from user profiles last month, though this still hasn’t rolled out to all users.

  • We’ve been here before, haven’t we: Meta’s Facebook announced podcast integration in April 2021; launched to invite-only podcasters in June 2021 but it only ever worked in the US; and they quickly lost interest, announcing its closure in May 2022. Look! A squirrel!

• Eric Nuzum predicts “the HBO of podcasting finally emerges” in 2026, which he describes as “someone refusing to settle for the version of podcasting we have now and insisting on the version we have not tried yet.”

• Toni and Ryan have been confirmed as speakers at Radiodays Europe in Riga, Latvia, next March. They’ll also be recording their podcast on stage.

• It’s time to finally retire the word 'podcast’, says The Verge’s Andru Marino in a paid article, arguing that the word is “becoming meaningless”.

• In Germany, the Fest & Flauschig podcast celebrated its tenth anniversary in an event attended by more than 12,000 people, and has raised more than €1.1 million for charities.

• Sports Business Journal posts about the growth of women’s sports podcasts.

• Congratulations to SBT News, a new TV channel in Brazil. It’s just launched a show called, er, “Podnews”. This website criticises them for their tiny, cheap-looking interview studio. We agree - the real Podnews® would never be made in a small cheap-looking office that looks like someone’s spare room.

What’s next: 2026 in podcasting

Steve McClendon, YouTube:

There’s lots of work for us to continue to drive more improvements in terms of search and discovery. There’s a lot of effort that we will be putting in to make sure that all types of podcasters can find success on the platform. In particular, [for] audio-first podcasters, we’re thinking about ways to improve the listening experience, to improve nomination and ranking of listenable content broadly across YouTube.

And, as a personal user and fan of podcasts, I’m really excited to see what new shows launch, and who the new voices are. Every year I find a new show that surprises and delights me, and I expect 2026 will deliver that as well. I’m really excited, looking forward to the next year.

• Hear more in the Podnews Weekly Review

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