Google Podcasts Shutting Down, Users Moving to YouTube Music in 2024
Google has announced discontinuing the Google Podcasts app by the end of 2024. The company aims to consolidate its podcast audience on YouTube Music. User preferences drive the move. Edison data reveals that approximately 23% of weekly podcast users in the U.S. favor YouTube, while only 4% opt for Google Podcasts.
The company’s decision follows its earlier announcement of podcast support on YouTube Music in the U.S., with plans for a global expansion by the year’s end. Additionally, podcasters can now upload their RSS feeds directly to YouTube.
Google intends to make YouTube Music the ultimate destination for podcast enthusiasts by introducing new features centered on discovery, community interaction, and a smooth transition between audio and video content.
To facilitate the transition, Google will provide Google Podcasts users with migration tools. It will also allow users to download an OPML file of their podcast subscriptions from Google Podcasts, enabling them to import their content into other podcast apps if they choose not to shift to YouTube Music.
While Google had already implemented a similar strategy to migrate music listeners to YouTube Music in 2020, the podcast transition is more complex due to the prevalence of podcast consumption on YouTube.
