YouTube isnt a podcast app, but that hasnt stopped it from becoming the number one place people who want to consume online radio shows now turn to. According to the company, a staggering 1 billion people are tuning into podcasts every month on YouTube. Thats not just more than either Apple or Spotify can claim it utterly lays them to waste. In 2023, Spotify reported it had 100 million regular podcast listeners, and touted that half a billion people had listened to a podcast on its platform since 2019 when it started its push into the world of online radio shows. Apple tends to come out behind Spotify in third-party measurements. If a full eighth of the worlds population uses YouTube for podcasts, it seems like thats probably where the action is. Reaching that big chunk of audience takes extra work for podcasters, though. Listeners cant turn just off their phones screen to listen unless theyre paying for YouTube Premium, and people may not want to stare at a static image for an hour straight. That means doing video to really make it count.Making video for YouTube is far more expensive than it used to be. In a newsletter earlier this month, cooking creator Carla Lalli Music, formerly of Bon Apetit, said it cost her $3,500 to shoot a single video for the platform. Those were more complicated than a podcast video, but it still speaks to the platforms demand for quality in order to get off the ground. YouTube says that more than 400 million hours of podcasts were watched on TVs alone last year. Video clearly matters; creators cant just turn on their webcams and get results.Reaching YouTubes audience also means playing by YouTubes rules. The platform doesnt work with RSS feeds in the same way that most other podcast platforms do every podcast has to become a native YouTube video. That requires them to play by YouTubes ad rules, too, and use YouTubes ad systems. Podcasters cant serve ads the same way they do everywhere else, and they cant get the same metrics theyd normally use to sell advertisers on their reach and success.Still, that tradeoff has clearly been worth it to a great many creators, and YouTubes stats today show why. It may not be a traditional podcast platform, but its a big one that podcasters cant ignore.See More: