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Finally, it’s here! Podcasts for YouTube!
That’s right, just last week YouTube made their announcement that you can now listen to podcasts on YouTube Music.
There’s just one catch.
This new feature is currently only available in the USA and is on a gradual roll-out; so even if you are in the US, you might not have access to this feature yet.
However, anyone can now list a playlist as a Podcast on YouTube itself.
Let’s explore this new addition to the podcast world in more depth.
What is YouTube Music?
Launched in 2015, YouTube Music is a music streaming service where users can listen to songs and albums on either a free or premium plan.
In 2022 alone, YouTube Music recorded an incredible 80 million subscribers. Not bad, right?
YouTube Music is owned by YouTube, and therefore by Google. And it’s important to remember the impact of these two companies.
They are the two largest search engines in the world.
Meaning that getting your podcast optimised for SEO and listed on either of these is a big deal because it’ll help you reach a larger audience.
YouTube Music is currently available in over 100 countries.
What are the benefits of listing my podcast on YouTube Music?
The biggest benefit of this new feature for podcasters is that it gives you yet another way of reaching a new audience. In fact, if you use a platform such as Repurpose.io, you can publish your podcast episodes onto YouTube for very little extra effort on your part.
To me, this is a no-brainer. Even if you’re not recording video for your podcast, you can easily automate a static, wave-form video with Repurpose and give yourself the chance of having your podcast titles discovered by potential new listeners and fans.
But you said that Podcasts on YouTube Music aren’t globally available.
I said that podcasts on YouTube Music aren’t globally available YET.
However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use the ability to have your podcast on YouTube Music just because it isn’t globally available.
After all, you probably have your podcast listed on Amazon Music, yet Amazon Music accounts for less than 1% of podcast downloads per month.
In our opinion, you should get your podcast listed in as many locations as possible.
Why?
Because you never know who will be listening where and who might not have discovered your podcast content otherwise.
And remember, YouTube Music had 80 million subscribers as of September 2022. Looking at their year-on-year trajectories, this will only continue to increase.
And let’s face it, that is a lot of people that you have the potential to get your podcast in front of.
How do I list a playlist as a podcast on YouTube?
Listing a playlist as a podcast on YouTube is incredibly simple:
- Go to YouTube Studio and click ‘Content’ in the left-hand menu.
- Click ‘Playlists’ along the top menu.
- Hover over a playlist and click the 3 vertical dots.
- Select ‘Set as podcast.’
There! You’re done and your playlist is now listed as a podcast on YouTube and for YouTube Music.
How do I track podcast downloads on YouTube?
At this time, listing a podcast on YouTube doesn’t seem the come with the ability to connect YouTube to a podcast hosting platform such as Buzzsprout, Libsyn, or Anchor. In fact, if you’re uploading your content to a podcast playlist, there can be debate over whether or not it’s technically a podcast, but we’ll leave that conversation for another day.
Because of this inability to connect YouTube Music to an online hosting platform, your watch time and views won’t automatically be added to your download numbers and won’t affect how your podcast ranks in podcast directories and in podcast charts.
Instead, it’ll be up to you to keep track of your podcast views and watch time in YouTube and decide if you want to add these numbers to your podcast download stats or not.
It might sound a little confusing at this stage, but I’m hopeful that eventually, we will see some sort of integration between YouTube and podcast hosting platforms to make it easier to track download stats all in one place.
How do I listen to podcasts on YouTube Music?
If you’re already a YouTube Music user, accessing the new podcast feature is easy.
Simply open the app and navigate to the “Explore” tab, where you’ll find a “Podcasts” option. From there, you can browse and select the shows you want to listen to.
However, as we said earlier, YouTube Music is not globally available as yet.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we’re super excited about this new addition to YouTube Music.
True, YouTube Music isn’t available globally, yet; and the ability to listen to podcasts on YouTube Music is currently still being rolled out in the USA.
However, as we’ve done with The Confident CEO Podcast and The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Podcasting, we’d recommend jumping on the opportunity to list your podcast playlist as a podcast on your YouTube channel and take advantage of the ability to grow your audience.
What do you think? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
