YouTube Music officially launches free Podcasts service, first launched in the US market

Since the announcement in February and the test in March, YouTube officially announced earlier that YouTube Music has officially launched a free podcasts service. Regardless of whether you subscribe to the YouTube Premium plan, you can listen to podcasts content on the YouTube Music App, and it also supports background playback and offline playback functions. However, this service is currently launched in the U.S. market and will be rolled out to other countries and regions in the future.

YouTube Music officially launches free Podcasts service, first launched in the US market

People usually listen to podcasts while commuting and working to accompany their boring time. In addition to Apple’s Podcasts App for iOS, Google Podcasts App for Android, and platforms such as Spotify also have their own podcasts services. Now YouTube has also pushed the Podcasts service to the YouTube Music App. Regardless of whether you subscribe to YouTube Premium or not, you can select the podcast content you want to listen to in the Podcasts category of the YouTube Music App.

On the YouTube Music homepage, users will see a new “Podcasts” category, as well as other recommended shows and Podcasts content. In addition, on the “Explore” page, users can view information such as the latest Podcasts episodes, rankings, sentiments and genres.

Then you see that on the “Media Library” page, Podcasts has been added to categories such as playlists, songs, albums, and artists. In the media library users can find new episodes of subscribed shows and future series and two automatic playlists. Users can add any Podcasts content to this automatic playlist. Sub-filter options are also provided during subscription and download, allowing users to play the downloaded episode of Podcasts in the automatic playlist.

In addition, the currently playing Podcasts mini player can be displayed on the lock screen of the phone, supporting playback control, 10-second rewind, 30-second fast forward, playback speed adjustment (supported since Android 13), random playback, and sleep timer. The search function within YouTube Music can also search for content in albums and podcasts.

At present, the Podcasts function has been first launched on the iOS and Android platforms in the US market. Google officials also stated that this function will be pushed to other countries and regions in the future.