The Google Podcasts app is heading to a farm upstate run by Marc Maron and Sarah Koenig, The app has been round since 2018, nevertheless it by no means approached the form of mass adoption loved by rivals Overcast, Spotify and the In different phrases, don’t really feel unhealthy in case you’ve by no means heard of it.
Your complete service is being folded into YouTube and its companion app YouTube Music. That is for good purpose, as YouTube’s already a well-liked vacation spot for podcast followers. In keeping with statistics supplied by Edison Analysis and YouTube providers 23 % of podcast listeners within the US. Google Podcasts, alternatively, accounts for simply 4 % of listeners, regardless of having podcasts proper within the identify. It’s simpler to select up stakes and head to the the place the fish are as a substitute of making an attempt to lure the fish to a random podcast app that no one is aware of about.
YouTube introduced that 2024 will see a major improve in its “funding within the podcast expertise,” proper after father or mother firm Alphabet places the kibosh on Google’s devoted app. It seems to be like YouTube Music will obtain the lion’s share of those investments, with forthcoming “sturdy creation and analytics instruments” along with streamlined RSS uploads for podcasters.
The corporate guarantees to additionally increase the power to hearken to podcasts in additional places, stating they’ll be accessible “in every single place YouTube Music listeners are already consuming their favourite content material — within the background, within the automotive, offline and extra.” Moreover, new “YouTube-only” instruments and capabilities shall be coming to podcasts on YouTube Music, although Google stays cagey on the specifics.
As for present Google Podcasts customers, there’s going to be a “easy migration software” to assist with the transition to YouTube Music. You’ll additionally have the ability to manually add podcast RSS feeds to your YouTube Music library. The corporate even introduced choices for including present podcast subscriptions to rival platforms, in case you simply wish to begin contemporary. Google’s nonetheless gathering suggestions relating to the migration course of, so a few of these options are liable to alter earlier than subsequent 12 months.
This isn’t the primary huge transfer YouTube Music has made this 12 months to shore up a few of these candy, candy podcast {dollars}. Again in April, the app launched the power to observe and hearken to podcasts although you’ll nonetheless should undergo by way of Podcasts on YouTube Music are already full-featured, with offline downloads, background play and the power to change between audio and visible content material on sensible audio system.
