YouTube Music Gets Podcast Support
Offline and on-demand podcasts have officially landed on YouTube Music for Android, iOS and web users in the US, Google has announced.
In its announcement(Opens in a new window), Google said that “all listeners can enjoy podcasts on-demand, offline, in the background, while casting and seamlessly switch between audio-video versions on YouTube Music.”
While many features on YouTube Music like background playback, and offline playback exist mainly behind a paywall, Google says that those features will be free for podcasts as the company seeks to differentiate the podcast listening experience from the music listening experience.
Google adds that it will begin to promote podcasts on both the “Home” and “Explore” pages of the YouTube Music app as well as highlight popular shows and episodes. Podcasts will be promoted on the YouTube Music Home tab via a new Podcasts chip and users will be able to select podcasts that fit their mood and interests.
As ArsTechnica notes(Opens in a new window), YouTube Premium users who pay to avoid ads will have to sit through ads when they listen to podcasts though as there is no way to pay for ad-free podcasts at the moment.
Podcasts on YouTube Music represents Google’s fourth podcast venture. The previous ones were Google Listen (2009-2012), Google Play Podcasts (2016-2020), and Google Podcasts which was launched in 2018 and is still available on the Play Store. Google did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment on what will happen to Google Podcasts.
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