Do you often end up just listening to a YouTube video, instead of watching it? I do it all the time, especially when I am on my way to the office. My phone always plays my favorite Youtuber shows with the screen on in my pocket. When I saw the podcast news, my first thought was that they were finally converting some of the videos into audio versions. That would solve the problem of frequent accidental touches with the screen off, and hopefully, it would also play fewer ads (it’s such a pain to keep clicking the tiny button to skip the ads).
Competition in the podcast space is fierce after companies like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and others have invested heavily in the podcast space. YouTube finally gave in and officially committed to expanding its reach in podcasting. The other day a report from 9to5Google revealed the latest podcast plans from YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, pointing out that the project has its own landing page. However, at the time of writing, this relatively simple page (which for many isn’t available) consists only of a collection of podcasts, authors, and associated playlists.
Under the Top Episodes tab at the top of the page, for example, you’ll find the top podcast playlists, recommended shows, and top podcast authors, etc., in addition to categories like Comedy, True Crime, Sports, Music, TV, and Movies. Perhaps the most fun part of YouTube’s first podcast service is the relatively short segments that are included. Be that as it may, YouTube has reportedly been working on it for a while, and it will be Google’s fourth podcasting platform.
Some of the “hot episodes” of YouTube podcasts are less than 30 minutes long, and some of them can be listened through in about 10 minutes. Given the length of many full podcasts and the unique ability to name them, YouTube’s exact strategy will be even more interesting to watch in the coming months.
Many major companies are still putting a lot of emphasis on serving the podcast market. This is also the platform’s concept of creating long-term value for users based on content services. If podcasts are attractive to users, it’s no surprise that YouTube also wants a piece of the pie. I hope they focus more on quality content while further increasing the user experience.
