Google Podcasts set to be Discontinued Next Year
It’s become somewhat “meme-worthy” at this point, but Google’s habit of killing off software and hardware products that don’t exactly do well is not unheard of, especially in the tech space. Earlier this year we saw the demise of its Stadia gaming service, as well as the discontinuation of Google’s subscription-based Pixel Pass service. With that in mind, it looks like another app is set to join the infamous “Google Graveyard” soon.
More specifically, Google (via YouTube) recently announced that the Google Podcasts App will be discontinued, and users can expect podcast content to transition over to YouTube Music. As per the official announcement:
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. This matches what listeners and podcasters are already doing: according to Edison, about 23% of weekly podcast users in the US say YouTube is their most frequently used service, versus just 4% for Google Podcasts.
It’s clear that the low percentage of users tuning into to Google Podcasts to follow their favourite content is a major factor influencing this decision, which isn’t at all surprising. At the moment YouTube says that it will continue taking user feedback for the migration process, and will release more details once the move is ready.
Source: YouTube