The podcasting landscape has fractured into a "Hybrid Era," where the medium is no longer defined by the file format, but by the platform it inhabits. Apple has finally shed its audio-only skin with the launch of HLS-powered video, allowing listeners to switch between watching and listening seamlessly within a single feed. 
 Meanwhile, the Spotify-Netflix alliance has effectively turned top-tier podcasts into "prestige TV," moving shows like The Bill Simmons Podcast into the living room to compete directly with late-night talk shows.
 This shift has ignited a fierce debate: purists argue that the "production creep" of video destroys the low-barrier, portable intimacy that made podcasting unique, while modern creators contend that in 2026, a podcast without a face is invisible to the visual algorithms that drive discovery.

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