YouTube Music Gets Podcast Support

Google has announced that offline and on-demand podcasts are officially on YouTube Music for Android, iOS and web users in the US.

in that announcement(opens in new window)Google says, “All listeners can enjoy podcasts on-demand, offline and in the background, seamlessly switching between audio-video versions of YouTube Music while casting.”

Many features of YouTube Music, such as background playback and offline playback, reside primarily behind a paywall, but Google is trying to differentiate the podcast listening experience from the music listening experience, so these features says the podcast will be free.

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Google has started promoting podcasts on both the “home” and “explore” pages of the YouTube Music app, adding that it will highlight popular shows and episodes.[ホーム]Advertised in tabs, users can choose podcasts that match their mood and interests.

As ArsTechnica points out(opens in new window)YouTube Premium users paying to avoid ads will have to wait for ads when listening to podcasts, but there is currently no way to pay for ad-free podcasts.

Podcasts on YouTube Music is Google’s fourth podcast venture. The previous ones were Google Listen (2009-2012), Google Play Podcasts (2016-2020), and Google Podcasts, launched in 2018 and still available on the Play Store. Google did not immediately respond to his PCMag request for comment on what happened to Google Podcasts.