Netflix has hired Steve Wilson, who spent 15 years at Apple and most recently headed marketing for Apple Podcasts, to lead its podcast content acquisitions.

Wilson will work on a contract basis, according to Variety. At Apple, he partnered with podcasters and networks. He left the company in December 2020 and spent nearly six years as chief strategy officer at podcast studio QCODE, which expanded its operations with the launch of Daylight Media in 2025.

Netflix now offers more than 60 podcasts and has continued to expand its catalog. The company first added podcasts to its service in January 2026. On September 1, it renewed its full slate of original podcasts for additional episodes and announced new originals from comedian Katt Williams and author Harlan Coben.

The original lineup includes “Murder with My Husband,” “The Pete Davidson Show,” “Shut Up Evan,” “The Puzzle Room with David Kwong,” and “Allegedly with Ellison Barber.” Netflix has also brought established shows to the service, including “The Pivot Podcast” and “OUTLORE with Eleanor Neale.”

“Podcasts are a way for members to get more of the genres, stories and personalities they love,” Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s VP of Nonfiction Series, said in the September announcement.

According to a recent Sounds Profitable survey of nearly 5,500 U.S. adults, 21% of U.S. podcast consumers named Netflix as a platform they used for podcasts in the past 12 months. That placed it third, behind YouTube at 63% and Spotify at 33%, and ahead of Apple Podcasts at 15%. Among consumers who use more than one app for podcasts on a smart TV, 12% named Netflix, up from 10% a year earlier. YouTube led that group at 71%, down from 76%.

Wilson joins two weeks after Netflix announced layoffs affecting 6% of its workforce, or about 1,000 employees. Variety described the cut as the company’s biggest to date. It primarily affected workers in product, technology, legal, and HR, according to an email from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.

“Our mission – to entertain the world – is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” the co-CEOs wrote in the memo, a copy of which Variety obtained.

Netflix also ousted several executives, including Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, Head of Film Dan Lin and his top lieutenant Doug Belgrad, and director of Original Series Carolina Garcia. Peter Rice was named to replace Bajaria.

Asked about the content leadership change on the company’s Q3 2026 earnings call, Sarandos said: “I know that we could do better, and we want to build on that momentum.”

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