Exclusive: YouTube's plans for podcasting

In this week’s Sounds Profitable with Claritas, Bryan Barletta suggests we make competitive separation a priority in podcasting. Not to do so, he argues, is a bad listener experience - and bad business. Subscribe here.

Sep 12 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Exclusive: YouTube is planning tighter integration, monetisation and analytics for podcasts

Despite no announcement from YouTube’s director of podcasting, Kai Chuk, at Podcast Movement Evolutions last week, Podnews has been sent an 84-page presentation produced by YouTube, intended for podcast publishers. In it, three slides marked “Looking Ahead” allow us a view into what YouTube is planning…

YouTube is looking at ingesting podcast RSS feeds directly, the slides suggest, with a new podcasts homepage to be at youtube.com/podcasts (a URL that doesn’t work, yet). Podcasts appear to be promoted with familiar, square, artwork thumbnails.

YouTube is to feature audio ads: both sold by Google but also by partners too, if they’re large enough. YouTube’s standard practice has been to share revenue with publishers, so we might expect, perhaps, revenue to be shared for podcast publishers as well.

YouTube will also supply analytics, particularly “new metrics for audio-first creators”. We might expect something aligning with the IAB guidelines, perhaps. And the company appears to be working with podcast attribution, like that available from Nielsen, Podtrac, and Chartable. Chartable was bought by Spotify in February, so perhaps this slide shows companies that YouTube have worked with, rather than companies it might work with in future.

We’ve contacted YouTube for comment.

• Podimo has bought Dag en Nacht, the largest podcast publisher in the Netherlands. Dag en Nacht have over 60 shows; some will be placed behind Podimo’s monthly €5 (US$5.50) paywall.

• PodWheels, powered by Radio Nemo, is set to produce podcasts for trucking professionals.

• Sports broadcaster Mike Francesa has launched The Mike Francesa Podcast, after saying he was hesitant to dive into podcasting because he didn’t fully understand it.

• Spotify is no longer available in Russia.

• Kerning Cultures Network, a female-led podcast company from the Middle East, has signed with talent agency CAA. It’s the first MENA podcast company to do so.

• Ivone Schramm from Triton Digital joins RAIN for a Podcast Business Lunch today, on how programmatic works, how it is priced, and its trends. It’s at 12pm Eastern.

  
  Sep 12 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Podcast News

Origins with James Andrew Miller is back for a new season, this time focusing on the story of popular cable TV channel HBO. It’s produced by C13 Originals, part of Audacy’s Cadence13; all five episodes are available from today.

The Antidote promises “joy amid the dumpster fire”, which is a welcome notion. Hosted by “Insecure” comedy writers/producers Amy Aniobi and Grace Edwards, they share the culture that lights them up and activities that bring them joy. It launches today from APM Studios.

Petrified won a New York Festivals Radio Award for Drama Podcast in 2020 despite having only six episodes, and garnered rave reviews and gained legions of horror fans worldwide in the process. Season two of this hugely acclaimed horror fiction anthology podcast from a darker Ireland launches today, from Peter Dunne (writer/director) and Liam Geraghty (producer). Petrified tells the chilling tales of ordinary people encountering the supernatural, and their terrifying fates.