How to listen to podcasts on YouTube Music

By Tom NewmanApril 28, 20235 mins read

YouTube Music launches podcasts, letting both Free and Premium users watch on YouTube, then pick up on YouTube Music in the background.

Podcasters have long turned to YouTube to upload long-form videos to the platform. For the past year or so, YouTube have stepped up their podcast game, launching features to enhance the experience for creators. Finally, YouTube have put these podcasts to their full audience potential, by launching on their music streaming platform, YouTube Music.

Now, podcasts uploaded and correctly labelled on YouTube are available in both YouTube and YouTube Music in the US. This means you can start watching a podcast video on YouTube on your laptop, then pick up your phone to continue listening on YouTube Music.

While non-paying YouTube Music users are restricted on how they can listen to music on the platform, for podcasts, on-demand, offline, background listening and casting are available to all YouTube Music users, regardless of whether they’re paying or not. As on other platforms, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers may still hear ads or sponsorship messages. These are determined by the podcast creator, not the platform.

Where are podcasts on YouTube Music?

The feature is currently rolling out to all listeners on iOS, Android and web, in the US and coming to more regions “in the future”.

Users with the feature will find a new Podcasts filter at the top of the Home page. Here, you’ll find new podcast recommendations and unfinished episodes. Head to the Podcast tab in the Explore page for more popular podcasts and episodes in your country/region, or browse by category. Use the search bar and filter by Podcasts or Episodes at the top of the page, to find more shows and episodes. Finally, you can also explore channel pages, by simply tapping the channel name from an episode, for other podcasts and episodes from the same creator.

YouTube are inviting feedback from listeners here.

Find tips on uploading podcasts to YouTube here. If your podcast isn’t showing up in YouTube Music, follow these steps to upload or change existing YouTube videos to podcasts.