Toni Dimaano Tech 02.23.2023 23:Feb PM EST

YouTube Music Officially Welcomes Podcasts On The Platform

As part of a campaign to promote podcasting on the platform as a whole, YouTube has now officially announced that podcasts will soon be delivered through YouTube Music after months of build-up.

According to The Verge, with its existing dominance in podcasting, YouTube is now bolstering its subscription music app with specialized support.

YouTube Music Is Continuously Expanding

Google recently revealed that the number of subscribers to YouTube Music and Premium had reached a record 80 million.

With this, the video streaming company said that it would be increasing its investment in these services going forward.

Several podcasts are available in video form on YouTube, some of which receive hundreds of thousands or even millions of views per episode.

The audio service has not yet entered the podcast market, but that is about to change, according to YouTube's podcast chief Kai Chuk, who made the announcement on Thursday at the Hot Pod Summit.

"We will soon start to bring both audio and video-first podcasts to YouTube Music for users in the US, making podcasts more discoverable and accessible, with more regions to come," a YouTube spokesperson says.

Engadget writes that this will make it possible for people to access their favorite podcasts from YouTube wherever they wish to listen.

The move would put YouTube Music up against Spotify, which has turned to podcasts and high-profile exclusives like Joe Rogan to attract new listeners and maintain existing ones.

YouTube Music will allow free ad-supported background listening to podcasts and offer "enhanced library tools," Chuk claims.

The company is not currently considering adding exclusive shows or licensed originals, but there will be a podcast badge to indicate audio-first shows.

YouTube's Plans Have Been Leading Up To This

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.

Podcast playlists will be eligible for all of YouTube's current and future podcast services, including inclusion in the YouTube Music app, podcast badging, and youtube.com/podcasts.

Chuk and Steve McLendon, Google's product lead for podcasting, claimed that the objective of YouTube Music's podcasting features was to create fantastic tools for those who create shows.

The announcement went on to say that YouTube will make podcast recommendations based on a user's listening preferences and that YouTube Channels may eventually have a separate "podcast" category.

According to 9to5 Google, this information was released just a few days after YouTube announced a number of new podcasting tools on desktop as part of a new test.

These capabilities include a specific method for uploading podcasts via the "Create" button on the platform, as well as curation and analytics tools for podcasts.

The goal of podcasting on YouTube was originally alluded to in a study that covered some of the company's intentions in 2021.

It can be remembered that YouTube created a page just for podcasts through 2022, and later published a guide outlining the best ways to podcast on the platform.