Google has announced that it will discontinue the Google Podcasts in 2024.
“Looking forward to 2024, we’ll be increasing our investment in the podcast experience on YouTube Music — making it a better overall destination for fans and podcasters alike with YouTube-only capabilities across community, discovery and audio/visual switching. Later in 2024, as part of this process, we’ll be discontinuing Google Podcasts. As part of this process, we’ll be helping Google Podcasts users move over to Podcasts in YouTube Music,” Google said in a blog post.
Google also mentioned that it will be working with both podcasters and listeners to for a smooth transition to YouTube Music. Additionally, YouTube Music is actively creating tools for migration, such as the capability to import podcast RSS feeds and transfer show subscriptions to alternative platforms.
For those who prefer a different listening platform, the tools will also include an option to download an OPML file of their show subscriptions, which they can upload to an app that supports their import. For podcasters, this means providing robust creation and analytics tools, as well as RSS uploads, in addition to making your podcasts available everywhere YouTube Music listeners are already consuming their favourite content–in the background, in the car, offline, and more.
“For now, nothing is changing and fans will continue to have access to YouTube, YouTube Music and Google Podcasts,” added Google.