podcasting trends 2026

Can Apple Make Video Podcasts Matter? | Jay Nachlis #656

~ Rob Greenlee ~ Leave a comment

In episode 656 of the New Media Show, Podcast Hall of Famer Rob Greenlee is joined by Jay Nachlis,  Media Research VP at Coleman Insights.

“It’s a timely and deeper conversation about Apple Podcasts moving more aggressively into HLS video streaming and what that really means for the future of podcasting, audience behavior, platform competition, and creator strategy in 2026.”

This episode goes far beyond the Apple announcement itself. Jay brings a strong audience research and brand strategy perspective to the conversation, and together we dig into the real question behind all of this: will Apple’s push into video actually change listener and viewer behavior, or is this simply Apple trying to catch up to audience habits that are already being shaped by YouTube and Spotify?

“Apple Podcasts still has major brand recognition in podcasting, but may face an uphill battle in the current environment where YouTube has become the default platform for video-based podcast discovery, and Spotify continues to build a more native monetization and creator ecosystem.”

We talk about how audience habits often outweigh platform features, why consumer perception matters as much as technical innovation, and whether Apple can reclaim any meaningful momentum in a category it helped establish years ago.

We also discuss how this shift is creating a more fragmented publishing environment for creators. Audio and video are no longer just different formats. They increasingly represent different user expectations, different discovery paths, and different monetization opportunities.

“We discuss the growing need for creators to think strategically about separate audio and video feeds, platform-native publishing, HLS streaming delivery, audience experience, and the long-term risks of overreliance on closed ecosystems.”

Jay and I also explore the broader competitive chessboard. That includes YouTube’s dominance in video & video podcast consumption, Spotify’s continued attempts to define its role in both audio and video, and even whether players like Netflix could successfully move into podcast-adjacent content formats. This episode is really about where podcasting is headed as a medium, not just one Apple feature update.

If you are a podcaster, creator, media strategist, advertiser, or platform watcher trying to understand where podcasting, video, discovery, and monetization are all heading next, this is an episode you should not miss.

Chapters:

00:00 Apple Video Podcast Push
00:47 Meet the Hosts
01:56 Apple Streaming Update
03:14 Early Podcasting Era
05:19 YouTube Spotify Takeover
07:05 Can Apple Compete
08:25 Research YouTube Wins UX
10:30 Awareness Drives Usage
12:07 Netflix Podcasting Fit
15:58 Discovery Algorithms Habits
18:10 Apple Video Hidden Toggle
19:26 Audio Quality vs Video
22:22 Brand Content Trust Matrix
24:05 Apple Podcasts Brand Gap
24:51 Differentiation Over Video
25:41 RSS and HLS Debate
27:09 Why Listeners Choose Apple
28:03 Zune Era Video Podcasts
30:07 YouTube Parallel History
30:59 Winning Tech Standards
33:16 Reaching Younger Audiences
36:48 Hosting Costs and HLS
39:05 Creator Burden of Video
41:20 Future Screens in Cars
43:23 Marketing and Discovery Fixes
45:35 Alternative Enclosures Path
46:49 Wrap Up and Where to Follow

Guest Jay Nachlis Links
Jay Nachlis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynachlis/
Coleman Insights: https://colemaninsights.com/
Tuesdays with Coleman: https://colemaninsights.com/blog/

Host Rob Greenlee and Show Links
New Media Show: https://newmediashow.com/
Rob Greenlee: https://robgreenlee.com/
Trust Factor Lab: https://trustfactorlab.com/
Adore Creator Network: https://adorenetwork.com/
Podcast Hall of Fame: https://podcasthall.com/
Rob Greenlee YouTube: https://youtube.com/@robgreenlee
Rob Greenlee LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/robgreenlee
Rob Greenlee Instagram: https://instagram.com/robwgreenlee

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How to Build a Future Proof Show in 2026 | Anika Jackson #653

~ Rob Greenlee ~ Leave a comment

If you’re trying to figure out how to build a future-proof show in 2026, the answer is not a new platform or a new gimmick.

Podcasting is changing expectations. Audiences judge creators like brands, platforms reward shows that behave like programs, and AI is raising the baseline quality while making trust and differentiation harder to earn.

On this episode #653 of The New Media Show,  Rob Greenlee (Podcast Hall of Fame Chairperson, 2017 inductee), and am joined by Anika Jackson, founder of Your Brand Amplified and faculty at USC Annenberg, where she teaches podcasting and digital media management.

Anika brings a rare educator-operator perspective because she’s building in the real world while shaping how the next generation of creators thinks about content, AI personalities, human clones, business, and audience growth.

Listen and follow: https://newmediashow.com/ and https://robgreenlee.com/
Learn more about Anika: https://yourbrandamplified.com/

A big theme in this conversation is that future-proofing is a systems problem, not a motivation problem.

Creators are pulled toward audio, video, clips, social, newsletters, community, sponsors, and now AI tools. The ones who win in the long term are the ones who turn chaos and complexity into a repeatable content engine. That starts with a clear show promise, a consistent format, and a realistic publishing rhythm you can sustain.

We also dig into AI in podcasting as leverage, not the story. AI can accelerate production tasks, packaging, and distribution, but it cannot replace the point of view. In a world where “good enough” content is easy to generate, the advantage shifts to trust, taste, credibility, and consistency. If you want your show to perform in AI search results and platform recommendations, clarity matters. Tight topic lanes, explicit language that matches what people search for, and a library of episodes that consistently deliver on the promise of your title and description.

We touch the platform battlefield too. YouTube continues to shape expectations around search and discovery, while Apple’s renewed push into advanced video podcast delivery, including HLS workflows, signals more competition and more fragmentation. The takeaway is not that everyone must do video, but that show packaging and distribution can’t be stuck in the past. Audio-first can still win, but the strategy has to match modern consumption.

Anika also shares what she’s seeing with emerging creators, including more students creating in their own languages and leaning into global communities. With AI-driven translation, transcription, and metadata, multilingual growth is becoming more achievable than ever for creators willing to build for it intentionally.

Chapters:
00:00 Welcome and 2026 Theme
01:34 Meet Anika Jackson
04:03 Teaching Podcasting as Business
04:37 Global Languages and AI Skills
06:30 Broadcast to Podcast Shift
10:03 Liquid Content and PESO
12:00 Delphi Clones and Feedback Loops
15:07 AI Influencers and Trust
22:55 Purpose and Human Connection
29:03 IP Copyright and Monetization Models
31:21 LLM Economics and Ethics
34:53 Humans Behind AI Content
35:30 AI Translator Jobs
36:49 Human in the Loop Reality
37:37 AI in Media and Medicine
38:24 YouTube Shifts to Longform
39:34 Creator Teams and Monetization
40:48 Global Access and Digital Divide
42:47 Personal AI Workflows and Search
44:05 Websites SEO and LLM Traffic
46:42 Students Creativity and Careers
51:24 Disclosure and AI Clones
54:28 Labeling Standards and Regulation
59:45 Ads, Agents, and App Ecosystems
01:02:18 Podcast Wrap and Farewell

Host
Rob Greenlee
https://robgreenlee.com
https://www.youtube.com/@RobGreenlee
https://www.youtube.com/@spokenhuman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robgreenlee
https://www.instagram.com/robwgreenlee
https://x.com/robgreenlee
https://AdoreNetwork.com
https://PodcastHall.com

Guest
Anika Jackson:
https://yourbrandamplified.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikajackson
Your Brand Amplified (Apple Podcasts): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-brand-amplified/id1543221243

 

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