podcast, audio program disseminated over the Internet that can be subscribed to in such a manner that future programs in the series are automatically downloaded. Subscribers typically transfer downloaded files to their smartphones or computers for later playback. The name podcast derives from a combination of iPod and broadcast. (In the early 2000s Apple Inc.’s iPod portable media player was the most popular device for listening to podcasts.)
An early impetus for podcasts came from amateurs who produced their own special-interest programs, but podcasts really took off about mid-2005 when Apple’s iTunes online store added tens of thousands of podcasts to its offerings. Many newspapers and radio and television networks now produce podcasts, which have attracted millions of subscribers.