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There's no need to speculate, as the article literally says that: "Industry groups agree: Sounds Profitable, a podcast monetization trade group, lobbied Apple to make the change, and said that it would lead to more accurate audience info and more effective advertising."

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Great example of how the invisible hand of big tech enacts large scale behavioral change.

I'm not sure it's an invisible hand - seems pretty well known amongst people affected by it (podcast producers, advertisers). This is the second time I've heard of this downloading change in the past few weeks, and I've got no connection to the podcast industry.

And what's the large scale behavioural change? People weren't listening to all the podcasts that the app had been downloading, and they still aren't?

The behavioural change will be one the podcaster's side, who now have to worry more than previously about keeping listeners enganged.

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