Netflix Hires Former Apple Podcasts Marketing Head Steve Wilson to Lead Podcast Buying

Netflix has hired Steve Wilson to lead the company's podcast content acquisitions, the work of finding and buying shows for the service, Variety reported on 27 October 2026.

Wilson will take the role on a contract basis, which means he is engaged for a defined piece of work rather than joining as a salaried staff member. The hire is part of Netflix's push into podcasts. The streamer offers more than 60 video podcasts, according to Variety.

Wilson spent 15 years at Apple before joining Netflix. His last job there was running marketing for Apple Podcasts. He left Apple in December 2020.

After Apple, he went to QCode, a scripted podcast media startup, where he spent nearly six years as chief strategy officer. A scripted podcast is a show written and produced like a drama or documentary, rather than a loose conversation. QCode had hired him in December 2020, shortly after the company raised a Series A round of venture funding, according to a BusinessWire announcement from that time.

Wilson then joined Daylight Media as chief strategy officer, the same senior title he held at QCode.

Why does a buyer matter for a podcast? For a streaming service, acquisitions decide which shows arrive on the platform, and on what terms. Netflix's podcast strategy has been built around video, so the person choosing those shows sits at the point where a podcast becomes something a viewer can watch on a television. Wilson's background spans the marketing side at Apple and the strategy side at two independent podcast companies.

Netflix has not, in the material reported so far, announced a timetable for new podcast deals under Wilson's leadership.

For listeners and viewers, the change is a new name in charge of a growing shelf. Podcast-to-screen deals have become a routine part of the streaming business, and the people who run that buying are now among the most closely watched in the industry.