Amazon Music wants you to watch your podcasts as well as listen to them. On September 16, the company announced that Amazon Music video podcasts are now available in six countries, with new shows from iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, Spotify, NBC Sports and Headgum joining the catalog.

Amazon Music video podcasts were previously available only in the United States. This week the format opens to customers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Japan, on iOS and Android across every subscription tier. According to the company, listeners can search for "video podcasts," browse featured recommendations, download episodes for offline viewing and switch between video and audio inside the same episode. Inside Radio reports that the international rollout is Amazon Music's first move taking video beyond the US market.

New hosts, new shows

The expansion comes with fresh distribution deals. Amazon Music has partnered with podcast hosting providers ART19, Triton Digital's Omny Studio and Flightcast, and says support for SiriusXM's hosting technology (including SiriusXM Media, AdsWizz and Simplecast), Spotify's Megaphone and Libsyn will follow in the coming months.

Those agreements bring video versions of shows from iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, Spotify, NBC Sports and Headgum to the app, including Hey Jonas!, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, Pro Football Talk Live with Mike Florio and Solved with Mark Manson. The catalog spans true crime, breaking news and celebrity interviews. Amazon Music's announcement notes that ART19, the Amazon-owned hosting platform, was the first provider distributing video podcasts on the service.

Creators keep control of the ads

Amazon Music now supports monetization for video podcasts as well. Creators can dynamically insert video ads into their shows while keeping their existing brand sponsorships and baked-in ads, and publishers retain full control over their hosting, ad inventory and audience targeting, according to PodcastingToday.

"Industry data confirms what our customers have been telling us, they want the flexibility to watch their favorite podcasts, in addition to listening," said Shea Simpson, Amazon Music's head of spoken word, in a statement announcing the move. "We've built this in a way that lets creators keep full ownership of their hosting, ad inventory, and audience monetization."

iHeartMedia chief executive Bob Pittman described the deal as a reach play: "This collaboration with Amazon Music expands the reach of our creators and programming, helps grow the podcast ecosystem, and creates new ways for audiences to discover and engage with the content they love."

Flightcast co-founder and chief executive Rox Codes said Amazon's pitch worked on creators: hundreds of the company's podcasters wanted in from the first day, drawn by the promise of greater control over ad inventory and brand relationships.

The race for video

Amazon is joining a crowded contest. Spotify expanded its podcast partner program to 35 markets this fall and says video podcast consumption on its platform has risen 140 percent since 2022 (previously reported). Acast's Podcast Pulse 2026 survey, released this week, found that 88 percent of fans now consume both audio and video, up 10 points from last year (Acast Podcast Pulse 2026). Sounds Profitable reports that Apple is redesigning its Podcasts apps around video playback and transcripts in its next round of software updates, and Substack just launched a dedicated podcast tab for its creators.

YouTube still dominates podcast viewing, and Netflix has been circling the format too. Amazon's bet is that a video home inside an app listeners already pay for, plus ad terms that leave creators in charge of their inventory, is enough to take a real share. If this first rollout lands, the hosts already lined up for the coming months give Amazon a deep bench of shows to add next.

What changes for listeners

For listeners, the practical changes are small but convenient. Episodes with video show a play option in the Amazon Music app, and you can flip to audio-only without losing your place. Offline downloads cover the video versions as well, so a downloaded episode still watches on a plane. Discovery gets a nudge too: featured video podcast recommendations and a dedicated search surface steer people toward shows that have video ready.