YouTube recently shared their biggest updates yet to their podcasting platform, with a mission of simplifying the content creation process for the established and emerging podcasters. The platform only recently bragged that listeners were using the platform to listen to more than 100 million hours of podcasts each day. Even more excitingly, over 30% of those hours are from livestreams or premieres! YouTube is making moves to boost its presence in the highly competitive podcasting scene. To do so, the platform announced several new tools at its Made on YouTube live event in New York City, with competition coming from platforms such as Spotify.
These new creative tools will give podcasters the ability to edit their long-form video into concise clips and YouTube Shorts. This news is especially exciting since it’s in step with audiences’ increasing preference for bite-sized video. Starting next year, eligible podcasters will get early access to the new feature that automatically turns clips into Shorts. By 2026, the goal is to roll out this feature to a broader range of users.
Plus, YouTube is rolling out a new feature tailored to the audio-only podcaster. This tool will assist creators in converting their audio content into engaging video formats, providing them with new avenues for audience engagement. AI makes storytelling faster and smarter. These innovations, powered by artificial intelligence, are fundamentally changing the way stories are produced.
YouTube’s podcasting push follows the platform’s success in February, when it overtook Spotify as the top home for podcasts with over 1 billion podcast viewers per month. The Spotify platform is growing beyond the core music audience, and it understands that it needs to continue to develop its podcasting capabilities to serve that user base. By introducing these new tools, YouTube aims to make the content creation process more accessible and efficient for creators across various genres.
Over the next several months, YouTube will be launching these features. Today’s rollout is a substantial departure from that trend and an indication of Apple’s desire to continue growing the podcasting space. That’s because the platform continues to innovate and expand its product offerings. That gives podcasters more opportunities than ever to increase awareness and expand their reach in a competitive landscape.