YouTube has been counting it up, and yesterday announced an enviable metric: One billion monthly podcast users. Tim Katz, Vice President, Partnerships, Podcasts posted the notice with a bit of competitive spirit:
“Drop the mic: Celebrating 1 billion monthly podcast users on YouTube.” –Tim Katz
Kayz threw some light on two specific podcasts: Baby This is Keke Palmer (240k subscribers; 271 videos) and Lex Fridman Podcast.
“Whether you start your day checking in on the latest with Keke Palmer or you prefer to wind down in the evening by listening to long-form interviews on the Lex Fridman Podcast, one thing is for certain: you’re probably watching and listening to these podcasts on YouTube.” — Tim Katz
Katz brags about YouTubes ubiquity, emphasized by this interesting metric: “Last year, viewers watched over 400M hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices.”
This milestone comes a few days after widespread speculation that YouTube is preparing to launch “premium light” subscription tier, nested between free-with-ads and higher-cost Premium. (RAIN HERE.) That proposed middle-of-the-road subscription plan would include ad-free podcasts.
Tim Katz concludes his announcement cheerily: “More to come, and thanks a billion!”
