If you’re not distributing your podcast on YouTube, you’re missing out on a huge potential audience. YouTube is making huge investments in podcasting and podcast audiences love getting their podcasts on YouTube. According to Morning Consult, one third of all podcast listeners use YouTube as preferred platform to consume podcasts. Now that YouTube has made a separate homepage specifically built around podcast content, it’s vital for your show’s growth that it’s on the platform.
What’s New On The YouTube Podcast Page
Much like the YouTube homepage we’ve all grown used to, the YouTube Podcast homepage features recommended episodes, latest releases, and full podcasts which look similar to playlists. As more people begin to use this homepage on YouTube to get to their favorite podcasts, the opportunity for new audiences to discover your show increases!
Below the large, revolving carousel of five highlighted podcast episodes, YouTube suggests popular individual podcast episodes followed by popular podcast playlists which consist of the full episodes of an entire show. Further down the page are recommended podcasts based on topic and finally popular podcast creators. If you know what your target audience cares about and if that is reflected in the content of your podcast, this can be a great way to reach more people that are within that target group.
Adding to the importance of YouTube in the podcasting landscape is that playlists set as “podcasts” on YouTube will be made available on the YouTube Music App. This separate streaming app has 80 million users globally and makes up around 13% of the music and podcast streaming market in 2021 according to YouTube and the Business of Apps.
READ MORE: Video Podcasts Explained
Getting Your Show Listed on YouTube’s Podcast Page
While you may already post your podcast to YouTube, there are new features which enable creators to designate their videos and playlists as an official podcast in the eyes of YouTube. If you have an existing, verified YouTube account, this process is mercifully short!
While in YouTube Studio, click “Create” and then “New Podcast” to add a new podcast or designate existing playlists and videos as official podcasts.
READ MORE: How To Define The Ideal Target Audience For Your Podcast
Setting Up The Details of Your Video Podcast on YouTube
When creating a new podcast or editing the details of an existing podcast, there are a few things you’ll need, including a title, description, and cover art. If you have an existing podcast outside of YouTube, you will be able to copy and paste much of this information into YouTube.
- Podcast Title: 150 Character Limit
- Podcast Description: 5000 Character Limit
- Podcast Cover Art: Recommended Dimensions of 1280 x 1280 pixels
Additional recommendations for your podcast’s cover art according to YouTube include:
- Be uploaded in image formats such as JPG, GIF, or PNG.
- File Size must be less than 10MB for podcasts.
- The Podcast Thumbnail should have an aspect ratio of 1:1 (1280 x 1280 pixels).
READ MORE: All The Artwork You Need For Your Podcast
How To Make Edits To Your Podcast On YouTube
You can access all of the podcasts on your YouTube account by logging into YouTube Studio, clicking Content and then selecting the “Podcasts” tab which is to the right of the “Playlists” tab. All of your podcasts will show up under that tab.
As you can see in the image below from Creating The Greatest Show, once you select the podcast, you can make changes to the title, description, and thumbnail. You can also reorder the video episodes of your podcast and change the visibility to make it public, unlisted, or private.
Set Up Existing Playlists As Podcasts In YouTube Studio
While on your YouTube Studio dashboard, navigate to the “Content” page and then the “Playlists” tab. Here you’ll find all of your existing playlists and by selecting the three dots, you can select that playlist (and the videos within) as a podcast.
You should only set playlists that feature the full episodes of your podcast as a podcast on YouTube. Clips from episodes are a great way to grow your show, but they should be placed in their own playlist and you should not mark this playlist as a podcast.
YouTube directly addresses this in their New Podcasting Best Practices saying podcasters should “Keep full show playlists and clip playlists separate, to avoid confusion with your audience and help them easily navigate to the most recent episode. Be sure to keep playlists updated regularly!”
Once you set the playlist as a podcast, you will be prompted to input the podcast’s title, description, and cover art just as you would if starting a brand new podcast.
Once set as a podcast, you can edit the details of your show by again clicking the three dots next to the podcast.
Another great tip to help your podcast’s discoverability per YouTube’s New Podcasting Best Practices is to, “Have each of your shows organized into show-specific playlists, this makes it easier to add the show to your channel homepage & will help audiences find your shows via the playlist title as well as the video title.”
Looking Out Across The Podcasting Horizon
By my last check, it’s only March and we’ve already seen so much innovation coming to the world of podcasting. While most humans are generally rubbish at predicting future events, I feel quite confident in saying that changes for podcasters are still only heating up. No matter what happens next, we’ll keep you updated on the latest developments for podcasting on YouTube as the company rolls out tweaks and new features. If I’m sure about one thing, it’s that the changes to the podcasting world this year are far from over.
READ MORE: The BIG Changes Spotify Just Made For Podcasters
