SEATTLE — Amazon Music is expanding its video-podcast catalog through new relationships with major hosting companies and publishers, giving programs from iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, Spotify, NBC Sports and Headgum another global distribution outlet.

The service now supports video shows hosted through Amazon-owned ART19, Triton Digital’s Omny Studio and Flightcast. Additional integrations involving SiriusXM services, Megaphone and Libsyn are expected in the coming months.

Among the programs entering the catalog are Hey Jonas!, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, Pro Football Talk Live with Mike Florio and Solved with Mark Manson.

VIDEO AND AUDIO CAN TRAVEL TOGETHER

Amazon Music says viewers can move between the video and audio versions of a program inside its application and download episodes for offline viewing. The expanded video catalog is available across subscription tiers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Japan.

The company says publishers and creators will retain control of their hosting, existing sponsorships, advertising inventory and audience targeting. Amazon Music is also supporting dynamically inserted video advertising.

That arrangement is important because podcast video has often required creators to build separate versions, advertising plans and audience relationships for individual platforms. If one hosted video file can reach several destinations without surrendering inventory control, smaller publishers may gain distribution without rebuilding their business around one platform.

THE MEASUREMENT QUESTION REMAINS

Wider distribution is valuable only if creators can understand what happens to their programming. Amazon has not yet provided a complete public comparison showing which viewing, retention and advertising measurements return to every participating host.

Publishers also need to know whether a person who begins with video and finishes in audio is counted as one audience member, how downloads are measured and whether advertisements inserted by the host receive the same reporting across every country.

WHAT INDEPENDENT PODCASTERS SHOULD ASK

  • Does the existing host automatically deliver video to Amazon Music?
  • Which viewing and completion statistics return to the publisher?
  • Who controls dynamically inserted and baked-in advertisements?
  • Can the creator remove or correct an episode everywhere from one dashboard?
  • Do international views generate the same reporting and revenue?

The expansion shows that video podcasting is becoming a distribution format rather than a feature belonging to one platform. The winners will be creators who can reach several screens while preserving control of their audience and advertising business.

Sources: Amazon Music partnership announcement and Barrett Media.