Podcasts have become an incredibly popular medium in recent years, providing a platform for a diverse range of voices and perspectives to be heard. With the rise of streaming services, it was only a matter of time before podcasts found their way onto these platforms.
In late 2020, YouTube Music announced that it would be adding podcasts to its platform, marking a significant step for the podcast industry and offering a new way for listeners to discover and enjoy their favorite shows.
YouTube Music is a music streaming service that offers a vast library of songs, albums, and playlists. With the addition of podcasts, it will now provide access to an even wider range of content, including talk shows, news programs, and storytelling series. This move is part of YouTube’s broader strategy to expand its offerings beyond music and into other forms of audio content.
Some advantages of having podcasts on YouTube:
1. Personalized Recommendations
With the help of machine learning and AI, YouTube Music will be able to suggest podcasts based on a user’s listening history and preferences. This feature will help listeners discover new shows they might not have found otherwise, and it will also make it easier to keep up with new episodes from their favorite podcasts.
2. Podcast Specific Features
In addition to personalized recommendations, YouTube Music is also introducing new features that are specific to podcasts. For example, users will be able to speed up or slow down the playback of a podcast, as well as skip forward or backward by 10 seconds. They will also be able to download episodes for offline listening and create playlists of their favorite shows.
3. Reach Wider Audience
Another advantage of having podcasts on YouTube Music is the potential for creators to reach a wider audience. YouTube has a massive user base, with over 2 billion monthly active users, and adding podcasts to the platform means that creators will be able to reach this audience as well. This could be particularly beneficial for independent creators and smaller podcast networks that might not have as much visibility on other platforms.
Later this year, producers will be able to upload audio podcasts to YouTube via RSS feeds thanks to the addition of podcast creation tools to YouTube Studio.
According to TechCrunch, background podcast listening will be free. But if you don’t have a YouTube Music subscription, there will be commercials. Also, it appears that users will have the option to switch between podcast episodes’ audio and video versions. They also mentioned that it doesn’t appear that YouTube is aiming to offer exclusive and/or original podcasts like Spotify and Amazon, at least not right away. It remains to be seen whether YouTube Music can cut into Spotify and Apple’s market share, but by combining audio and video podcasts and leveraging YouTube’s massive reach, it can likely compete for listeners’ attention.
Overall, the addition of podcasts to YouTube Music is an exciting development for both listeners and creators. With personalized recommendations, new features, and access to a massive user base, YouTube Music has the potential to become a major player in the podcast industry. Whether you’re a seasoned podcast listener or a newcomer to the medium, there has never been a better time to explore the diverse and fascinating world of podcasts on YouTube Music.
What better time to start your own podcast than now?
Not sure how to start? Reach out to us here and let us help you with end-to-end podcasting solutions!
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