Host-read, baked-in ads are some of the most trusted units in podcasting. On shows delivered over HLS, they've also been some of the hardest to measure… until now!
Podscribe has built a first-of-its-kind integration with ART19, an Amazon company, that tracks baked-in ads in HLS-delivered episodes. Daylight Media is the first publisher to go live with it.
At first, HLS broke baked-in tracking
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) delivers an episode as a stream of short segments instead of one downloadable file. That's a smoother experience for the audience, but it breaks the way baked-in ads have traditionally been measured.
Dynamically inserted ads on HLS are straightforward: standard pixels fire when the ad is served. Baked-in ads have no ad server call to track.
What changes with ART19
Working directly with ART19, Podscribe now measures baked-in ads in HLS episodes for shows hosted on ART19 and reports them in the same dashboards advertisers already use. No separate spreadsheet or reporting templates required.
That matters on both sides of the buy:
Advertisers can hold baked-in HLS spots to the same standard as the rest of the plan.
Publishers can exhibit the performance of their HLS-enabled shows, and give buyers a reason to renew.
Daylight Media: First Integration Partner
Daylight Media is the first publisher running baked-in HLS ads with Podscribe tracking through the integration. Thanks to the Daylight team for going first, and to ART19 for building this with us.
Why now: HLS is early, and that's the point
In the Q3 2026 PPB, just 2% of the top 100 podcasts were HLS enabled, compared with 85% of the top 100 on YouTube and 32% opted into Spotify Video. The same report names Apple HLS, along with Rumble, as the platforms where strong measurement is emerging.
2%
of the top 100
shows are HLS enabled
4%
of the top 500 shows are HLS enabled
That combination is rare. Most new channels scale first and get measured later, leaving early buyers to guess. HLS is getting its measurement in place while it's still small, so advertisers can grow into it.
Get your HLS inventory measured
We're bringing more publishers onto the integration now. If you host on ART19 and want your baked-in HLS ads to be measurable for your advertisers, reach out to adops@podscribe.com.
