The platform of YouTube is becoming more committed to providing podcasts. The forum will support RSS uploads for podcasters before the end of the year, among other upgrades, according to YouTube product head Steve McLendon, who announced this week at the Podcast Movement conference. The new feature has been under beta testing since the beginning of the year as a planned, invite-only pilot.
In addition, YouTube informed TechCrunch that by year’s end, YouTube Music would feature podcasts. The company had yet to expand its music streaming service to other nations; until this announcement, it was only available in the United States on iOS, Android, and the web.
At the event, the business disclosed allowing users to add RSS feeds, including private dinners, to their libraries within YouTube Music. As a result, YouTube Music would be more competitive with other standalone podcasting services like Overcast and Apple Podcasts. In terms of allowing private RSS feeds, it puts YouTube Music ahead of Spotify.
The only significant podcast software that doesn’t allow that feature is Spotify, which instead prefers to point consumers to its subscriptions. However, many people must subscribe to a private feed elsewhere and import it into their favorite podcast client. By announcing a collaboration with the well-known podcasting platform Patreon earlier this month, Spotify somewhat gave in on this issue by enabling fans to access their subscriber-only Patreon feeds within the Spotify app.
YouTube has been working on expanding its role as a podcasting hub for some time. For example, the business added a specific podcast homepage as one of its top-level navigation options on the video platform last year. Additionally, it was discovered that YouTube intended to include audio advertisements in podcasts distributed by Google and other partners.
However, Spotify is encroaching on YouTube’s area with its support for video podcasts at the same time that YouTube is extending its support for podcasts by adopting RSS feeds. The streaming service included video podcasts for Spotify Originals and other series, including the Spotify-exclusive “Call Her Daddy” and others, late last year before opening up its publishing tools for video podcasts to all creators globally.
In connection with the revelation about YouTube podcasts, Triton Digital revealed that the platform’s podcasts will now be included in Triton’s Podcast stats, enabling publishers to access stats for both their YouTube videos and audio podcast episodes.
This week, both Spotify and Apple made announcements about podcast producer tools. Spotify added new customization tools, statistics, and other controls, while Apple added subscription analytics and a relationship with Linkfire.
