Podcasts in YouTube: should you add yours?

As YouTube launches its #podcast capabilities in the UK, the question is should your show be on there?

Producing a podcast takes time and effort but arguably the hard work really begins when you promote it.

Getting your ideas into ears only works if those ears can find you and with millions of podcasts available, that means being available where the listeners are - and telling them about it.

My view is always that if a new platform opens up, it's worth getting on there, but the big two (Apple Podcasts and Spotify) remain the ones that 99% of your listeners will be.

Smaller platforms like Audible / Amazon Music are also worth being on because of their growth and their significant chunk of the wider ecosystem.

YouTube fits into this category because, while it is a video platform, it's HUGE and as part of the same group of companies as Google, there are surely benefits to discoverability.

What is YouTube Podcasts?

YouTube has been rolling out its podcast capabilities in the US and is now doing so in the UK and other places.

Google Podcasts as a platform is ending in favour of YouTube Podcasts within the YouTube Music app but the potential for your show is in the standard YouTube platform.

There are several studies that suggest that YouTube is a major place for people to consume podcasts, but this appears to stem from the rise of 'video podcasts' or as I call them, videos.

It's also skewed by 'big #podcasting' such as Joe Rogan and Steven Bartlett, both of which have invested heavily in professional video set-ups. Smaller podcasts are unlikely to be contributing a large share to the YouTube as a platform stats, especially for audio-based shows.

Essentially, podcasts on YouTube sit in a playlist within your YouTube account but by clicking a box that sets it up as a podcast channel it will appear in the Podcasts section of the site/app.

At the time of writing (despite #marketing comms to the contrary) the UK podcasts section is not working, so here's a screenshot of the US version:

There's nothing ground-breaking here, it's a curated page of podcasts. And when you click through to a particular podcast from here, or you click the podcast tab on a user's YouTube profile, you get this:

Again, it's fairly standard stuff and simply organises your podcast episodes into one place.

How do you get on there?

This is as simple as setting up a dedicated podcast playlist in your YouTube creator account (easy to set one up if you don't yet).

You then upload your episodes to the playlist as either audiogram videos, audio with a static image, or (if you are recording your podcast with video) the video version of the episode itself.

This means there's an option for you whether or not you create a video version of your show.

There is a separate - but related - function due later which will enable you to add your RSS feed (the way podcasts are distributed) to YouTube automatically.

However, I have seen opinion pieces on this that suggest that, unlike Apple, Spotify, etc, YouTube will import your audio to its platform (rather than just serving it via your existing hosting) which makes controlling your audio harder (if you want to update an episode for example).

There are also concerns around YouTube's strict advertising and sponsorship rules, which do apply to podcast content too, so you will need to check this is not an issue for you.

Bear in mind too that, because the YouTube version of your podcast is not linked to the analytics provided by your podcast hosting platform, you will need to look separately within YouTube for this data.

Should you be on there?

All this comes back to the central question about whether your podcast should be on YouTube?

Assuming you are happy with its terms and conditions- and the extra time involved in adding episodes to the platform - then why not. You may get some listens from there.

But for now, I am yet to be convinced that a sizeable share of people are consuming audio based podcasts on the platform compared to the major apps.