Apple Podcasts to add AI-generated chapters for everyone

• Chapters are a great way to navigate through podcasts; and now, Apple Podcasts has announced automated chapters for almost every episode from the release of iOS 26.2 - which we’d expect to see released to the public next month.

  • We’ve a full FAQ for creators who want to see Apple’s automated chapters; how to use chapters in the app; how to opt out; and how to make your own creator-produced chapters instead. We’re also here to help if you have questions (just hit reply) and if you’re a Podnews supporter, feel free to ask us to see how your show looks. Happy to help!

• Apple Podcasts also announced “timed links”, a system that can automatically pop up a link to a podcast, book, music track, news story, stock information, or much else within the Apple ecosystem, which you or your guests mention. These will appear automatically if the system recognises something; or, you can use links within chapters. Again, our FAQ contains more info - you can’t use it for third-party websites, nor for app store links; however it apparently does work with affiliate links if you’re using those; and it’ll be really good for links to other podcasts.

  • Want to see automated timed links working? The Podnews Daily podcast’s “Podcast News” section looks like this video - many of the shows we mention automatically pop up on the screen. Magic.

• These Apple Podcasts enhancements have been accompanied by new terms of service, which you’ll need to accept next time you use Apple Podcasts Connect.

• Spotify announced its Q3/25 financial earnings. Subscribers, and total revenue, both grew +12% year-on-year. The company now has 713mn monthly active users.

  • The shareholder deck reveals that ad revenue is down, -6% year on year, and -2% on the quarter, at €446mn (US $512mn); after taking currency conversions into account, ad revenue is flat. The company is still in profit.
  • Relevant podcast data from Alex Norström in the prepared remarks all focused on video: “In podcasts, more than 390 million users have streamed a video podcast on Spotify, a 54% increase year over year. We now have almost 500,000 video podcast shows on our platform. Time spent with video content has more than doubled year over year—driven mostly by video podcasts. And this consumption has increased by more than 80% since the launch of the Spotify Partner Program in January of this year.”

• Mark Cuban and Falon Fatemi’s Fireside Chat is to close. The company has filed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, which is described as “an alternative to Chapter 7 bankruptcy”. The company has three patents.

  • In Aug 2021, Cuban and Fatemi spoke at Podcast Movement, telling us that podcasting was “old, tired and beat up”, and that the only way for us to make money was to “lie to secure sponsorships”. Fatemi also said that creators retain the IP in content posted on the platform, when, as Podnews highlighted, Fireside’s terms and conditions said the direct opposite.

• It’s excellent to see Eric Nuzum being credited as the inventor of the podcast in this piece from El Mundo. He’s not, of course, but he wrote a good book with a whole chapter on the history of podcasting. The El Mundo piece talks about the revenue side of podcasting.

Moves and hires

• First look: Platform Media has appointed Channel 4’s Jodie Miles as Commercial Director, a newly created role to strengthen the company’s commercial offering as it continues to expand its TV and digital slate.

Case Study: Explosive Growth of True Crime YouTube Channel

Paid content

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Learn more about Audiencelift.com’s YouTube growth platform.

Podcast News

Hindsight- The Fracture is a new fiction podcast that dropped (in full) today. Set in an isolated city that culls 10% of its “least productive” citizens every year, it follows the Mayor’s son as he joins a hidden resistance to uncover the conspiracy behind the disappearances. It’s from actor/writer JD Walsh.

Talk Fifty To Me is brand new, hosted by television writer and pro-aging influencer Heidi Clements and award-winning actor and director Constance Zimmer. Each week, Heidi and Constance tackle cultural myths, celebrate reinvention, and spotlight the joys and challenges of being a woman in your 50s. It’s on the fwd. Network.

CRAFTED. is celebrating its third anniversary with a special episode featuring an anonymous CTO saying scary things about AI and coding agents that he’s afraid to say publicly, given all the bubbly AI euphoria and decidedly less euphoric job market. Hosted by Dan Blumberg, an independent technologist and former public radio host, CRAFTED. has been honored three years in a row by the Webby Awards as a top tech podcast. The show focuses on AI, and other emerging tech, that will shape our lives — hopefully for the better!