Google Podcasts to Be Discontinued as Attention Shifts to YouTube Music

pcmag.com:

If you use Google Podcasts, prepare to say goodbye. Google plans on shutting down the app sometime next year in a bid to centralize podcast listening on YouTube Music, which began supporting podcasting channels in April. 

“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," Google says.

But the decision to bet on YouTube Music is coming at the cost of Google Podcasts, which first launched on Android in 2018. It launched on iOS in 2020, and has since attracted over 500 million downloads, according to the Google Play Store. It's also available on the web.  

Despite the app’s popularity, YouTube Music is outperforming Google Podcasts, the company says. “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."

So the podcasting app will join the ever-growing number of products Google has killed over the years. The company is now laying the groundwork to migrate Google Podcasts users to the YouTube Music platform before the shutdown occurs. "For users, it means a simple migration tool and the ability to add podcast RSS feeds to their YouTube Music library, including shows not currently hosted by YouTube,” Google says. 

But if you’re not a fan of YouTube Music, you can also take your podcast preferences to another podcast-listening app through an “option to download an OPML file of their show subscriptions.”

“In the coming weeks and months, we'll gather feedback to make the migration process from Google Podcasts to YouTube Music