Publish Video Podcasts on Apple Podcasts through Captivate

The main benefit is video plays faster, since it’s only pulling segments as they’re watched, and the video quality can adapt based on the viewer’s internet or mobile data connection. So, if you’re in an area where connection is bad, the playback quality can drop from something like 720p to 360p resolution (or even lower), ensuring continued playback until a stronger connection is restored.

No, Captivate hosts and publishes the video file - you upload the video file to your content library and publish from there, or upload directly when creating a new episode.

No - HLS is via an API call between Apple and Captivate, so the video is sent directly to Apple from us. The audio in your RSS feed for that episode is either pulled from the video version for Apple, or you can add a separate audio version of the episode for your RSS feed and that will be sent to Spotify, Pocket Casts, etc, instead of the Apple video audio.

No - to use Apple HLS, the video and audio version needs to be the same, to allow for seamless switching between the formats. This is why Apple uses the audio from the video you upload, to ensure listeners/viewers can continue from the same point of the episode when switching between formats.

Yes, but they also need to be the same, so you’d add your ads to your video and then upload that to Captivate, and publish it to Apple.

Not at the moment - Apple Subscriptions is currently just for audio-only content.

Captivate processes resolution at 720p. You can upload to Captivate in higher quality, but for optimization on Apple Podcasts, the published file will be 720p. We also transcode it to 480p and 240p, so these versions can be accessed should a viewer’s internet / cellular connection drop.

If you’d like to publish at 1080p, contact our support team via the little chat icon at the bottom right of your dashboard.

You just need to connect your Apple Podcasts Connect account to Captivate, using your Apple API keys - more info on that here.

No - due to the increased storage and bandwidth required, Apple HLS Video podcasting is an add-on, with a flat monthly fee per video podcast, and usage costs based on bandwidth used (length of video, file size, and the amount of additional “streams” via video plays on Apple Podcasts).

With Captivate, the first 1,000 HLS downloads are included in the monthly fee. After that, costs are based on bandwidth usage - so, if you get a massive spike with a viral video, you’ll be charged by the extra downloads. To help negate how much that is, you can set a safety net limit, so that if you reach X amount of downloads, the delivery of the video version will stop and Apple Podcasts listeners/viewers will only be able to access the audio version.

Yes, you can disable HLS - any episodes with video previously will now be audio-only, and the video files uploaded to Captivate will be removed from our servers after 30 days. Any video bandwidth costs accrued up to that point will still be chargeable on your next invoice.

Currently video analytics are combined with your audio analytics as part of your overall Apple Podcasts analytics.