by Spotify and Apple rival emerges from the shadows. True, not in Russia yet.
Andrei Pronin
Despite the fact that YouTube has never did not consider itself a podcast service, the platform is in great demand among Internet show creators. Now Google has finally decided to add a thematic section.
According to sources, YouTube launched the podcast platform at the end of July, but it is still available exclusively to users from the United States, and even then not to everyone. The new section is located in the Navigator menu. On the podcast page, you can find both well-known shows with a multi-million audience and niche projects with a small number of listeners.
There are few filters and settings in the section, but this does not play an important role. Recent studies have shown that YouTube, even without a separate page for online shows, is more popular than its main competitors: Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And all thanks to the growing popularity of video podcasts and the universal availability of the Google service.
Analysts believe that the podcast market is not critical for YouTube: in 2021, video hosting earned $28.8 billion. And the entire Internet show industry, by comparison, made just over one billion in the same year. Nevertheless, YouTube's official entry into this segment means that the company is ready to invest in this market.
By the way, Lifehacker's podcasts have also been available on YouTube for a long time.
