YouTube Music will soon be the place to listen to your favorite podcasts. This was announced by representatives of the platform during the Hot Pod Summit event.
A podcast creation tool will come to YouTube Studio, and creators will be able to add audio podcasts to YouTube via RSS feeds. All users will be able to listen to podcasts in the background, but those with free accounts will also hear ads. In addition, the option to switch between audio and video podcasts will be available.
YouTube is focused on unifying the audio and video experience for the audience.
Start watching a podcast at home, listen during your commute (maybe finish watching at work).
— Alban 🛫 NYC for Hot Pod Summit (@AlbanBrooke) February 23, 2023
As for the Google Podcasts service, there are no plans to close it yet. There’s also no word yet on YouTube’s plans to have exclusive podcasts on its platform like Apple and Spotify do.