Effectively, right here we’re once more. One other product is making its approach by the forest till it comes upon the Google Graveyard. This time, it’s Google Podcasts’ flip — gone too quickly however unsurprisingly since everybody simply makes use of YouTube and YouTube Music.
In September 2023, Google formally announced that it will be shutting down Google Podcasts. The announcement got here after the corporate introduced podcasts to the YouTube Music app in April 2023, an apparent indicator on the time that Google Podcasts was useless to rights.
After that April announcement, everybody puzzled when the corporate would formally kill off Google Podcasts and lengthy reign YouTube Music as the brand new place to seek out and take heed to podcasts as a Google buyer. Then, in September, Google made it official.
Within the weblog publish, the corporate announced that in 2024, it will be shutting down Google Podcasts and rolling its total podcasting expertise into YouTube Music. Google stated on the time that YouTube Music was already extra widespread for customers seeking to hear or watch podcast episodes, saying that “23% of weekly podcast customers within the US say YouTube is their most incessantly used service, versus simply 4% for Google Podcasts.”
The corporate additionally clarified that it deliberate to roll out podcasts on YouTube Music internationally by the top of 2023 as properly, guaranteeing that anybody who at present has entry by Google Podcasts can even have entry to YouTube Music when the previous went out to pasture. Google additionally ready quite a lot of instruments for podcasters and listeners to make sure that the transition went easily:
We need to be certain that we get this proper and can give followers and podcasters loads of time to make the transition. For customers, it means a easy migration software and the flexibility so as to add podcast RSS feeds to their YouTube Music library, together with reveals not at present hosted by YouTube. For many who desire a special listening platform, the instruments can even embrace an choice to obtain an OPML file of their present subscriptions, which they will add to an app that helps their import. For podcasters, this implies offering sturdy creation and analytics instruments, in addition to RSS uploads, along with making your podcasts obtainable in all places YouTube Music listeners are already consuming their favourite content material–within the background, within the automotive, offline, and extra.
The place to get your podcasts now
Effectively, seven months after that announcement and we’re lastly right here: Google Podcasts will formally shut down in the USA on April 2nd and internationally on June twenty fourth. So, in case you’re nonetheless clinging to that app and haven’t jumped ship but, you could be questioning the place to go subsequent. Fortunately, there are tons of podcast apps on the market. Right here’s a few of them:
- Apple Podcasts: The default in case you’re on an iPhone
- YouTube Music: The default in case you’re within the Google ecosystem
- Spotify: The default is you’re already paying for Spotify Premium
- Deezer: In order for you music and podcasts however don’t need the above
- Pocket Casts: In order for you an indie choice on each iPhone and Android
- Overcast: In order for you an indie choice on simply the iPhone
Any of the above choices will function a superb substitute for Google Podcasts, particularly since Google’s non-YouTube choice provided a fairly fundamental function set in comparison with…properly, any of the above choices.
When you’re nonetheless utilizing Google Podcasts, right this moment could be a superb day to change to one of many different podcast gamers above. The app will formally cease working on the net and cell after right this moment, we have now no selection however to say goodbye and bury Google Podcasts within the Google Graveyard alongside different latest deaths like Google Domains, YouTube Tales, Pixel Cross, and Google Jamboard.
