Before you feel bad about YouTube possibly adding a high-bitrate 1080p streaming option that will be available to Premium subscribers, there might be benefits to getting a subscription: aside from getting access to YouTube Music ad-free, YouTube’s music streaming platform will have audio-only Podcasts soon.
The addition of audio-only podcasts will strengthen YouTube Music and give even better value for money should you plan to get a YouTube Premium subscription. This was confirmed by YouTube podcasting head Kai Chuk at the Hot Pod Summit. YouTube’s spokesperson states that they will make YouTube Music podcasts available initially in the US then in other regions in the coming months.
TechCrunch explained that the podcast service will allow background listening for free, though you will need a YouTube Premium subscription if you also want an ad-free experience. What’s interesting is that YouTube is not interested in exclusive deals. Instead, it wants to make a seamless podcast listening experience–for example, if one is watching a video podcast, one can switch to an audio-only format in the middle of an episode.
It will be interesting how YouTube plans to make the experience seamless, given that not all video podcasts can be translated into an audio-only one. Nonetheless, creators will have access to all the necessary tools at YouTube Studio in transforming their videos into podcasts.
The move also aims to increase the subscriber base for YouTube Music and Premium–as of November 2022, it has 80 million subscribers.
