Google Podcasts to be axed in favour of YouTube podcast play
Google has announced it will be retiring its Google Podcast app, with the aim of migrating users and creators to YouTube.
In April, the company announced an expanded podcast play through YouTube Music, allowing American users the ability to watch and listen to podcasts on the platform without a paid subscription, with access to downloads, background play, and the ability to switch between audio and video podcasts.
“We plan to make Podcasts on YouTube Music globally available before the end of the year,” the company announced overnight.
“Looking forward to 2024, we’ll be increasing our investment in the podcast experience on YouTube Music — making it a better overall destination for fans and podcasters alike with YouTube-only capabilities across community, discovery and audio/visual switching.
“Later in 2024, as part of this process, we’ll be discontinuing Google Podcasts. We’ll be helping Google Podcasts users move over to Podcasts in YouTube Music.
“This matches what listeners and podcasters are already doing: according to Edison, about 23% of weekly podcast users in the US say YouTube is their most frequently used service, versus just 4% for Google Podcasts.”
Google has deliberately not committed to a firm timeline, noting, “we want to make sure we get this right and will give fans and podcasters plenty of time to make the transition”.
The company said it “will have more to share about this process in the coming months.”
Google Podcasts launched in 2018 as an Android app, before debuting on Apple’s iOS in 2020.
According to data from YouGov released this morning, just 8% of Australians use the app for podcast listening – compared to the 21% who use YouTube instead.
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