Spotify podcasts don't have RSS feeds either. And have massively expanded their podcast program over the past few years, such that they know serve more podcast listeners than Apple.
But this is the play several big players are involved in make to try to convert podcasts into walled gardens.
The OP is really sniping around the edges of a major thing that's going on, which Apple is actually playing catch-up on.
Well, the old-timers (such as me) don't really like what Spotify are doing either. A "podcast", in our view, conforms to a de-facto standard, the RSS feed. This is what ensures its openness. You have choices about where to host it. Your listeners have choices of where to consume it.
But this is the play several big players are involved in make to try to convert podcasts into walled gardens.
The OP is really sniping around the edges of a major thing that's going on, which Apple is actually playing catch-up on.
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/will-spotify-ruin-podcast...
https://fair.org/home/the-new-podcast-oligopoly/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/23/techscape...