YouTube podcast page now available in the US

After the news about its plan to establish a podcast page in March, YouTube has finally made the formerly inaccessible YouTube.com/podcasts destination live in the US. Google didn’t announce making the page available, but 9To5Google said the rollout started in late July.

Nonetheless, in a report from TechCrunch, a spokesperson from YouTube confirmed its availability. “The podcast destination page on YouTube helps users explore new and popular podcast episodes, shows and creators, as well as recommend podcast content,” Paul Pennigton, YouTube spokesperson, told the news website. “It’s currently available in the US only.”

The podcast page is available on the web and mobile YouTube app, and although it doesn’t have the sidebar navigation we were expecting for the website, it can be easily accessed via YouTube’s Explore page. It joins the other current categories on Explore, including Trending, Music, Movies & Shows, Live, Gaming, News, Sports, Learning, and Fashion & Beauty. It also features expandable carousels, giving you access to categories like Popular Episodes, Popular Podcast Playlists, Recommended, and Popular Podcast Creators. As expected, the page’s content is still very limited, but it will offer you some of the most followed channels and shows from famous podcasters like Logan Paul.

At a glance, the new podcast page seems like any other typical YouTube page since it also uses thumbnails for the episodes. Nonetheless, it optimizes the platform for those who often use it to listen to and view various artists’ podcasts. There is also a huge possibility that YouTube will further bump up the page in the future since there are still no formal announcements about it, and it is not yet available globally. And given its leaked document in March regarding its roadmap to invest more in podcast content, new surprises from this page are probably around the corner.

In 2021, it can be recalled the company hired Kai Chuk as its podcast executive and even offered up to $300,000 to encourage creators to focus on making podcast episodes. This could mean a bigger threat to its competitors like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, which YouTube is outperforming now.