December 19, 2025

Video, AI and innovation: podcast predictions for 2026

3 minutes

Sponsored by Magellan AI. Want the latest on spend shifts and how the industry's growing? The Q3 Quarterly Benchmark Report has it all. Grab the report

Senior executives from the biggest companies in podcasting give their highlights of 2025, and their predictions for the year to come, in a special episode of the Podnews Weekly Review, published today.

Ben Cave from Apple Podcasts underscores that podcasts are open by design; and teases us that the platform will "continue to innovate with new features". Buzzsprout's Jordan Blair highlights that we'll see an "absolute brick wall of AI fatigue"; Roman Wasenmüller from Spotify focuses on what he calls the authenticity and loyalty that has shaped podcasting; Shea Simpson from Amazon says that video will continue to evolve; Ellie from Pocket Casts wants to see more podcasters adopting new Podcasting 2.0 features; and slightly worryingly, Megan Lazovick from Edison Research threatens that the Infinite Dial presentation next year might be a musical. We hope she's joking. Tell us she's joking. The full set of guests are available wherever you get your podcasts.

Netflix has signed a deal with Barstool Sports for three shows. The streamer will get exclusive access to the video from Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Podcast, and Spittin’ Chiclets - the audio show continues everywhere.

As with all these deals, this effectively removes access to video versions of these shows to everywhere outside the US; Netflix's podcasts will initially be only available within the US, and the company only vaguely promises "additional markets to follow". Only 27% of Netflix subscribers are in the US.

Magellan AI's November 2025 rankings have been released. BetterHelp was the top podcast spender, spending $5.9mn. Washable Sofas was #2, increasing their spend to $5.8mn. And both Aura Frames and The Coca-Cola Company appear high on the top movers & shakers list.

> > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter.

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