Google official Blog made the announcement to close Google Podcast infavor of Youtube Music. The company revelead its intention to discontinue one of its well-received apps in favor of promoting YouTube Music.
The Google Podcast app is slated for closure on June 23 this year, despite its high rating of 4.4 stars on Google Play. The App garnered from nearly 750,000 users and over 500 million downloads.
In the blogpost, Google encourages users of Podcasts to transition to YouTube music. The company emphasizes the growing popularity of podcasts on YouTube. The company is focusing on audience engagement enhancement across audio and video formats.
Citing data from Edison, Google revealed that only about 4% of weekly podcast users in the US utilize Google Podcasts as their primary service, compared to 23% for YouTube.
Google assured users of a seamless transition process, including a migration tool and the option to add podcast RSS feeds to their YouTube Music library. Additionally, podcasters will benefit from enhanced creation and analytics tools, along with the opportunity to reach a broader audience on YouTube Music.
The transition was initially announced at the end of 2023, prompting mixed reactions from users on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Some expressed disappointment at the decision, preferring the simplicity of a dedicated podcast app.
