YouTube is not a podcast app, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming the number one place for people who want to listen to online radio shows. According to the company, 1 billion people listen to podcasts on YouTube every month. That’s not just more than Apple or Spotify can claim – it’s absolutely staggering.
In 2023, Spotify reported having 100 million regular podcast listeners and stated that half a billion people had listened to a podcast on its platform since 2019, when it began its push into the world of online radio shows. Apple typically outperforms Spotify in third-party measurements. If an entire eighth of the world’s population is using YouTube for podcast listening, then that’s where the real action is happening.
However, reaching such a large audience requires additional work from podcasters. Listeners can’t simply turn off their phone screens to listen unless they pay for YouTube Premium, and people may not want to stare at a static image for an hour. This means that videos need to be created in a way that truly matters.
Producing videos for YouTube is now much more expensive than before. In her newsletter earlier this month, culinary content creator Carla Lalli Music, who previously worked at Bon Appétit, shared that filming a single video for the platform cost her $3,500. It was more complicated than shooting a video for a podcast, but it still highlights the platform’s demand for quality in order to gain traction. YouTube claims that over 400 million hours of podcasts were watched on TVs alone last year. Video clearly matters; creators can’t just turn on a webcam and expect results.
Reaching YouTube’s audience also means playing by its rules. The platform does not support RSS feeds the way most other podcast platforms do – every podcast must become native video content on YouTube. This requires creators to comply with YouTube’s advertising rules and use YouTube’s ad systems. Podcasters can’t run ads the same way they do elsewhere and can’t obtain the same metrics they usually use to sell advertisers on their reach and success.
Still, this trade-off has clearly been worth it for many creators, and today’s YouTube statistics show why. It may not be a traditional podcast platform, but it’s a massive one that podcasters simply can’t ignore.
