YouTube’s music streaming service will soon feature full-length podcasts for their viewers. Kai Chuk, head of YouTube Podcasting revealed the plan for YouTube Music to introduce podcasts in a podcast summit on February 23rd,2023. Launched in 2015, YouTube Music utilises Google artificial intelligence technology to explore music based on lyrics and descriptions, a web-based desktop player, a new mobile app, and more dynamic recommendations. It is a distinct subscription service that provides ad-free audio-only streaming, as well as downloading for offline viewing, for YouTube music content.
Podcasts are on their way to YouTube Music. In a tweet shared by On Air Fest, Kai can be heard stating that all the podcasts available on YouTube will now be available on YouTube Music, with many features like free background listening, downloads, enhanced library controls as well as other standard podcast features.
And it happened at #HotPodSummit #OnAirFest https://t.co/UH4YCLS7u3
— On Air Fest (@onairfest) February 24, 2023
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Chuk said: “If someone wants to watch a podcast, we have a solution. If someone wants to listen to a podcast only, we should have a great experience for that as well.”
YouTube’s Music and Premium services, which encompass both Music and ad-free YouTube, reached 80 million subscribers the year before. Also, it appears that YouTube intends to combine the experiences of listening and watching podcasts using audio as well as video, enabling users to switch from video to playback in the middle of an episode to hear while on the go.
- The purpose of YouTube Music’s podcasting features, according to Google’s product lead Steve McLendon and Chuk, is to create excellent tools for those who create shows.
- The announcement comes after other recent enhancements to YouTube features, such as multilingual audio dubbing for videos and customized radio channels on YouTube Music.
However, it should be noted that although plans for YouTube Music to introduce podcasts is declared, YouTube isn’t particularly interested in establishing exclusive arrangements with contributors and podcasters, which has been a significant tactic at Spotify.
Source: On Air Fest
