Sponsored by Riverside. Create studio-quality recordings, edit in seconds, and repurpose effortlessly—all with Riverside’s latest updates. Trusted by top podcasters and brands like Tim Ferriss, Ali Abdaal, and Spotify, it’s their go-to creation platform. Try Riverside today and grow your podcast!
- YouTube released a new headline data point, suggesting that there were more than 1 billion viewers of podcast content a month in January. It also repeated that 400 million monthly hours of podcast watching were consumed on TV sets.
- Putting the 1 billion number in context, Spotify claimed just 120mn monthly podcast listeners in November. Apple Podcasts is likely to be smaller in terms of monthly listeners, according to Podtrac in Jan 2023: but Apple Podcasts had a significantly higher share of downloads.
- Worth remembering, too, that a listener to a second of “podcast” content on YouTube - even automatically-played content - will count towards the 1 billion figure, irrespective of the amount of downloads they make, or the time they spend with podcasts. Reach doesn’t translate to time spent. However, Edison Research said in Oct 2024 that, of all the podcast platforms, YouTube was used “most often” to listen to podcasts.
- We wondered what YouTube considered a “podcast” to be. A YouTube spokesperson told us that the company follows the lead of creators marking a playlist as a “podcast” when they upload. The YouTube Podcasts homepage in the US, as one example, includes full TV news shows like NBC Nightly News and PBS NewsHour, which both broadcasters have marked as a “podcast” - but there are audio podcasts for NBC Nightly News and PBS News Hour as well. Australia’s podcasts homepage includes individual news stories from 7NEWS, which are in a YouTube playlist called 7NEWS Just In, but there’s also a 7NEWS Just In audio podcast, too.
- YouTube’s blog post was authored by Tim Katz. Who’s he? He describes himself as “VP, Partnerships, Podcasts”. That’s the first outing for this job title; on LinkedIn, he’s “Director, Head of Sports + News Partnerships”; in news coverage in 2023, he was “Director and Global Head of Responsibility”; and in 2024, he was “Global Director of Responsibility and Leader for the Canada and Latin America region”. We don’t see any use of this podcasting job title until this announcement.
- Katz is interviewed (as “Vice President for Partnerships”) in Bloomberg. The YouTube podcast trend “existed but it was a matter of us pouring some gas on it,” he said.
- Some parts of the industry give notes of caution.
> > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter.
Classifieds - your job or ad here
- Work with an award winning podcast producer! — I can save you hours of editing so you can focus on making great content. Book a free Discovery Call with me, Niall Mackay, to see how we can help you! “Top-notch podcasts, expertly produced.”
- Save $350—Evolutions Sale Ends Tonight! — Be part of the spring's biggest podcast event, Evolutions 2025, March 31–April 3 in Chicago. Save up to $350 during the Super Duper Early Bird Sale, ending tonight. Lock in your pass before midnight!
- 🚀 AUDIENCELIFT = LISTENS + SUBSCRIBERS! — Audiencelift advertises your podcast to the right audience with links to listen, follow, and opt in for push notifications! It's perfect if you want to grow and engage your audience. Learn more!
- Women Podcasters Network — Join our thriving community of Women Podcasters & Expert Guests. Tap into our time-saving templates for podcasters.
- The New Zealand Podcasting Summit, May 10 2025 — The annual event for NZ’s podcast producers, presenters, practitioners, & providers. This is a day-long event focused on networking, sharing, upskilling, & learning. Six themed sessions over the day.
Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Mamamia, The $100 MBA, The Podglomerate, Sounds Profitable, Cloud10, Audiohook, Podscribe, SALT, Cohost, Resound, Steve Lack: Audio, audioBoom, RedCircle, Simplecast, Riverside.fm, Jar Audio, Podchaser, Awesound, Knucklehead Media Group, Libsyn, Podpage websites, Disctopia, We Edit Podcasts, Acast, Evergreen Podcasts
Silver supporters: Audacia Audio, Bumper, Goalhanger, PodLabs - Podcast Experimentatio, Magellan AI, Compliance Podcast Network, POW PR, Ausha, PlayPodcast, Storyboard, Voxtopica, Gilded Audio, Huberman Lab, The Roost, The Podcast Haven, SoundStack, Podium , Deepcast Creator, Gumball, Truefans, Frequency, Ask Ralph Christian Finance, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Jonekiri, Tink Media, Red Seat Ventures, Podcastpage, Message Heard, Health Podcast Network, Castos, matchmaker.fm, Wondery, Double Elvis Productions, Optimal Living Daily, Headliner, Rhapsody Voices, Podcast Taxi, Zvook, Transistor, Lemonada Media, Blubrry, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Rephonic, Ossa Collective, Oxford Road, Heartcast Media50, Jam Street Media, Diversion Podcasts, Ad Results Media, Hear.Here.Singapore, Podcast Partnership, Content10x, StreamGuys, She Podcasts, Cleanfeed, Podcast Movement, School of Podcasting, Revolver Podcasts, Sonix, Adopter Media, Lower Street, Podigy, Signal Hill Insights, Edison Research
Our supporters pay for Podnews, so everyone can read it. Join them today.
Image: YouTube
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
