After some speculations and debates of whether podcasts should be part of YouTube or YouTube music, Podcasts is coming to YouTube music and not just in a mediocre way, the deliverability of this feature seems top-notch – at least according to what we can see from the reports.
Podcasts is coming to YouTube Music: further details
Kai Chuk, YouTube’s Podcast Lead, made the formal announcement – Podcasts is coming to YouTube Music – today at the “Hot Pod Conference,” which was held in Brooklyn as part of On Air Fest. Even though it is amazing to announce that “Podcasts is coming to YouTube Music“, the specific date for the rollout was not obtained – the brand left it at “in the near future”.
The revelation was announced via a tweet by SquadCast.fm’s Arielle Nissenblatt, who also provided some early details about how the functionality would operate, such as the fact that YouTube Music would broadcast podcasts even if the user’s screen was closed.
The podcast experience on YouTube Music will be audio-first and try to “unify the audio and video experience,” allowing listeners to start listening to a podcast on one device before continuing it on another, according to Alban Brooke of Buzzsprout in a separate tweet about the launch.
Google verified everything above in an email to 9to5Google but added that for the time being, YouTube Music will only support podcasts in the United States. Google also stated that “later this year,” producers would be able to post their audio podcasts through RSS.
The statement continued by saying that YouTube will recommend podcasts to viewers based on the kinds of material they regularly consume and that YouTube Channels could eventually feature a tab only for podcasts. The music rights for podcasts will also be the same as those for videos, according to YouTube.
Because we do not yet know the precise debut date for the service on YouTube Music, it is encouraging to see that it does not currently appear that the Google Podcasts app will be immediately withdrawn as a direct result of the service’s inclusion on YouTube Music. Also, it would probably be preferable if there was a transitional time for consumers to switch over and a mechanism to make sure that their current subscriptions were transferred.
