YouTube Launches A New Page For Podcasts
As more audio-first podcasts start to simulcast video episodes onto YouTube, the platform is beginning to optimize its user experience for podcast consumers through a new podcast-first destination. According to a report by 9to5Google, “the dedicated podcast page YouTube.com/podcasts went live sometime last month and is now linked, at least for some users, on YouTube’s existing Explore page alongside other top destinations like Gaming, Sports, Learning, Fashion, and others. It did not appear in the website’s sidebar navigation, however.”
YouTube Podcasts have a similar look and feel to the YouTube homepage. However, it looks like they have a different take on content discoverability. Where the YouTube homepage features an endless scroll of new video content to consume based on your interest, the YouTube Podcast homepage instead categorizes content by genre: such as Comedy, True Crime, and Film.
Financial Impact On Creators:
According to Bloomberg, “In March, YouTube began offering podcast and network “grants” worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch video versions of shows on the platform. YouTube is reportedly offering about $50,000 to individual podcasts, and $200,000 to $300,000 to networks to help cover the cost of video production.” And platforms like Spotify have taken notice, giving their podcast users the ability to create and upload videos for shows using Anchor, a Spotify-owned product. The big question is can Spotify beat Google / YouTube at the revenue share game on podcasts? In Music, Spotify dominates YouTube with significantly higher CPMs. Still, if YouTube can start to provide podcast users with new audience discoverability options and higher CPMs, we might start to see a larger migration to YouTube. But for now, I would anticipate the continuation of a largely fragmented market with content creators publishing podcasts across multiple platforms, such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and more. The consolidation of podcast content will be an interesting market to watch in the 2020s and beyond.
