YouTube Music is expanding its service to include podcasts, as announced by Kai Chuk, YouTube’s podcast chief, during the Hot Pod Summit on Thursday. While YouTube already hosts video versions of many popular podcasts, this marks the first time that the audio-streaming platform is officially venturing into the podcast space. YouTube will soon bring both audio and video-first podcasts to YouTube Music, according to a spokesperson for the company, who added that this will help users to more easily discover and access podcasts they love.
News from #HotPodSummit 2023: @YouTube podcast chief Kai Chuk (middle) says podcasts will appear on @youtubemusic app, reaching 80 million users pic.twitter.com/KXsubQpGUI
— John Wordock ?? (@JohnWordock) February 23, 2023
The company will also be rolling out podcast creation tools to YouTube Studio, which will allow creators to add audio podcasts to YouTube via RSS feeds later this year. Podcast playlists will be eligible for current and upcoming podcast features on YouTube, such as inclusion in the YouTube Music app, youtube.com/podcasts, and podcast badging. Background podcast listening will be available for free, although ads will be present unless users subscribe to YouTube Music. The spokesperson added that users will be able to switch between video and audio versions of podcast episodes.
Although YouTube is not currently planning to follow in the footsteps of Spotify and Amazon by producing exclusive and/or original podcasts, it may well give these competitors a run for their money by utilizing YouTube’s significant reach and blending audio and video podcasts together. It remains to be seen whether YouTube Music will be able to gain a significant share of the podcast market, but this move could certainly help it grab listeners’ attention.
