Google Podcasts will shut down in 2024 and podcasts will debut globally on YouTube Music

Discontinuing Google Podcasts. Starting next yearGoogle will instead focus on providing access to podcasts within YouTube Music.

This change does not come as a complete surprise. In April, Google introduced the ability for US users to listen to YouTube Music podcasts without a paid subscription. Additionally, users can listen to podcasts offline and in the background while switching between audio and video versions of YouTube Music. As part of its podcast campaign, YouTube announced that it will make podcasts available worldwide on YouTube Music before the end of 2023.

“As we look to 2024, we’ll increase our investment in the podcast experience on YouTube Music — making it a better one-stop destination for fans and podcasters with the YouTube-only community, discovery features, and audio/video switching,” YouTube wrote in a In the blog post. “Later in 2024, we will retire Google Podcasts as part of this process.”

YouTube justified the shutdown of Google Podcasts by saying that the move was “in line with what listeners and podcasters are already doing.” He cites data from Edison showing that 23% of weekly podcast users in the US cite YouTube as their most used service, versus 4% for Google Podcasts.

YouTube will help convert Google Podcasts to YouTube Music by providing “an easy migration tool and the ability to add podcast RSS feeds to your YouTube Music library.” The platform will also provide a tool that allows users to download OPML files of their listening subscriptions and upload them to other listening platforms.