Google Podcasts to be discontinued in 2024. Here’s what’s next

Google Podcasts is shutting down in 2024 and will instead ask Google Podcasts users to move to Podcasts in the YouTube Music app instead. Users will continue to have access to YouTube Music and Google Podcasts till 2024 when the latter will be discontinued.

Google says that the change is in line with the usage pattern of podcast listeners. Citing data by Edison, Google noted that 23% of the weekly podcast users in the US listen to podcasts via YouTube while only 4% say they prefer Google Podcasts.

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In a blog post announcing the switch to YouTube Music, Google said, “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.” the search giant added.

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When was Podcast support added in YouTube Music?

Google had announced in April this year that YouTube Music will now allow users to listen to podcasts without the need of a premium subscription.

“All listeners can enjoy podcasts on-demand, offline, in the background, while casting and seamlessly switch between audio-video versions on YouTube Music”

Initially launched in the US, Google had promised to bring the feature to other parts of the world soon. The search giant has now promised to make podcasts on YouTube Music available globally by the end of this year.