Apple and Google are streamlining how we listen to podcasts and audio content

A couple of prominent podcast platforms are about to get a big-time overhaul. Both Apple and Google are switching things up.

Hot Pod, The Verge's podcast-focused newsletter, noted that YouTube is sunsetting Google Podcasts while Apple is expanding its popular podcast app.

Google Podcasts will disappear next year as the company attempts to shift users over to YouTube Music. Basically, it wants to consolidate Google Podcast listeners onto the more popular YouTube platform. It makes sense, especially considering that many top podcasts now include videos posted to — you guessed it — YouTube. Users can even watch and listen to pods on YouTube Music sans a subscription.

"Later in 2024, 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," the company wrote in a blog post this week. "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."

Apple, meanwhile, is also trying to consolidate users with its podcast app. With the launch of iOS 17, there's a new ability to link third-party subscriptions to Apple Podcasts. This includes news apps like Bloomberg and The Washington Post, lifestyle apps like Sleep Cycle, and several others. The idea is to put all of your audio in one place — though, notably, not audiobooks.

"With the ability to connect subscriptions to top apps, Apple Podcasts becomes the best way for listeners to access many forms of premium audio content — podcasts, news briefs, narrated articles, radio shows with full music, educational courses, guided meditations, sleep sounds, and much more — all in one place," the company wrote in its announcement.

While these aren't the most industry-shaking changes, Apple and Google are at least trying to make things more streamlined for the average podcast listener.