MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - Google has announced that it will be discontinuing its Podcasts app in the United States.
The company has notified users to switch their subscriptions to YouTube Music by April 2 to continue listening to their favorite shows. Those who do not make the transition will no longer be able to stream directly from the Podcasts app after this date.
Bleeping Computer was the first to report the shutdown date of Google Podcasts in the U.S.
Google has assured users that they will have extra time to switch, but for those who miss the app notifications, the company has provided an alternative solution. However, moving to other podcast apps will require converting subscriptions into an OPML file or manually adding podcasts using the RSS feed. Users will be able to save their subscriptions until July 2024 by exporting them using the app's feature.
Despite the Podcasts app having over 500 million downloads on Android's Play Store, Google referenced data from Edison Research that showed only 4% of weekly podcast users in the U.S. prefer listening on Google Podcasts, compared to approximately 23% on YouTube Music. Therefore, Google believes consolidating resources into YouTube Music as a single platform for both music and podcasts is more beneficial based on user behavior data.
In September 2023, Google announced plans to discontinue the app in a blog post, introducing the feature to watch and listen to podcasts on YouTube Music in the United States. While confirming the phased shutdown of the Podcasts app in the U.S. by April 2, Google has not disclosed a timeline for the global shutdown. However, previous statements suggest that Google will discontinue Google Podcasts worldwide by 2024.
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