YouTube begins featuring a dedicated ‘Podcasts’ tab on channel pages for easy listening access

Last year, Kai Chuk, YouTube’s new podcasts lead and decade-long company veteran, was brought on by Google to improve the platform’s listening experience. While it’s been possible to listen to and watch podcast-style content on YouTube before now, it’s not been marked as a ‘Podcast’ per se.

As a result, users have had to consume it like regular old video content because, well, that’s exactly what it’s been. However, with the ability to click their device screen off and listen in the background, as well as with the introduction of the new ‘Listening Controls‘ feature, Premium users can emulate such an experience pretty easily.

Regardless, this development is expected to make it easier for creators to reach new audiences and expand their reach (something Google Podcasts has struggled to do). By making it easier for users to find and listen to podcasts on the platform, YouTube is hoping to compete with the likes of Spotify and knit together its audio and video ecosystem.

Creators can now mark entire playlists of uploaded content as “Podcast,” which then appear in a separate tab labeled as such. This feature was first noticed by 9to5Google, with channels like Electrek and TeamCoco already using the new tab and porting some of their videos into it via the new YouTube Studio controls. Anything marked as a podcast will appear in YouTube Music as well, providing added encouragement for content creators to flip the switch for relevant playlists in the backend of their channel.

While YouTube is not yet at Spotify’s level for audio-focused content, this development brings it much closer. Google Podcasts isn’t exactly being killed off or “sunset” any time soon, as per Google’s direct comments, but it will certainly fade into obscurity as the company’s golden child takes center stage.