Video and lack of international focus undermine Apple Podcasts use

Apple once dominated US podcast listening but seems to be becoming less popular according to fresh data from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights. YouTube and Spotify are scooping up its share.

Apple is fighting back quietly.

It recently opened up its podcasting service via Web browsers, giving those turning to YouTube a choice on any platform, and making it possible to access the service from Windows and Android. (If you use Safari, it will automatically open up the Podcasts app). As the company is forced to open up I imagine we’ll see more one to one competition of that kind emerge.

Apple still holds onto longer term podcast listeners – those who’ve listened for four or more years, while 88% of its podcast listeners access those transmissions on their iPhone.

Video killed the radio star

I think Apple’s recent weakness is in part due to its lack of focus on video, which has become the most used podcast format. Beyond support via RSS feeds, Apple makes no effort to push video at all, which instantly dates the service and makes it seem less relevant to the people seeking these shows today. Meanwhile it takes a cut on subscriptions – and has introduced automated transcripts of shows.

This weakness has given YouTube the boost it needed to become the most used podcast listening platform in the US, where 31% say it is the platform they use the most, followed by Spotify (21%) and Apple (12%). Just 5 years ago, 29% of weekly podcast listeners used Apple’s service.

It’s a little sad as Apple first coined the phrase podcasting back in 2005 with iTunes and iPod. The company really got behind the medium and Apple Podcasts were born.

Apple quite clearly needs to ramp up support for video podcasting, and if it hasn’t I can’t help but wonder if it’s a parsimonious approach to video delivery costs. But there’s another way I think the company can evolve, and it needs to think global to get there.

The global village

Some data shows the US is declining in podcasting. A YouGov survey in May 2024 shows the APAC region as the world’s most active podcast listening destination, with Indonesia, Thailand, and India as the leading nations. 57% of adults in Indonesia listen to at least an hour of podcasting every week, and in India this is 47%.  Latin America and the Middle East and Africa are also active listeners, while Europe and North America (39%) both lag these scores.

Yes, the data also shows more people seem to listen to podcasts, but they don’t spend as much time doing so – and it is attention, not numbers, that support the podcasting economy.

Scanning what Apple’s Podcasts shows are made available does seem to show a US/Western European slant, and as those aren’t the big areas for podcast consumption they once were, perhaps Apple needs to revive its catalogue in some way. There were 464.7 million podcast listeners globally in 2023, up 9.6% on the previous year. So far this year it seems on track to hit 504.9 million and to become a $30 billion business.

This makes me wonder if one way Apple could regain leadership in the podcasting space might be to develop shows for the emerging super-active markets, with India a particularly viable opportunity. Perhaps Apple or some of its partners could deliver India-focused interviews and music podcasts?

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