Earlier than “Google Podcasts,” there was the flexibility to play podcasts in Google Search on Android. This easy characteristic was introduced a number of days after Google added podcasts to Play Music in April of 2016. It was reasonably emblematic of how Google did two of every part.
Google Podcasts formally launched in June of 2018, although it began rolling out that March. A part of the Google app on Android, it gained a simple homescreen that you possibly can entry through an app icon downloaded from the Play Retailer. You possibly can subscribe to reveals, obtain episodes for offline listening, and uncover new podcasts, whereas playback was synced throughout different units and Google Residence.
Within the months following the launch, Google added primary options like Trim silence, Forged, present/episode sharing, improved present notes, Android Auto assist, sleep timer, and darkish theme.
Google launched an online shopper in March 2019 that will take a number of years to succeed in characteristic parity with cellular.
Google Podcasts and early AI desires
At launch in 2018, the corporate stated “Google Podcasts can be a launchpad for constructing an excellent higher podcast listening expertise utilizing AI.” It imagined utilizing speech-to-text expertise for computerized subtitling — “which is particularly useful in case you are listening to impaired or in a loud space with out headphones” — after which utilizing Google Translate to carry reveals to extra languages.
With mass transcription, Google additionally talked about surfacing related podcast episodes as outcomes to individuals’s Search queries. That got here to fruition in August of 2019. At I/O that Might, Google first detailed the way it was indexing podcast episodes to floor audio alongside textual content and video leads to Search. This podcast search transcribed audio to grasp “what’s being talked about on a podcast,” and surfaced episodes related to your question in a “Podcasts” carousel.
Nevertheless, Google by no means launched a user-facing captions UI for episodes, although we enabled a “CC” characteristic again in January of 2019. (As of 2024, Spotify and Apple Podcasts supply auto-generated transcriptions, whereas podcasts uploaded to YouTube can benefit from the prevailing closed-captioning functionality, although it’s not very optimized.)
Trajectory nominal
The following massive cellular replace was in March of 2020 with new episode notifications and auto-downloading, in addition to a backside bar redesign that consisted of Residence, Search, and Exercise. On the identical time, the “new Google Podcasts” acquired an iOS app. The staff emphasised it was targeted on providing a easy expertise to assist “new customers uncover the marvel of podcasts.”
Different main additions in 2020 included a Supervisor device for viewers analytics, Play Music migration, CarPlay assist, Forged enchancment, and the flexibility so as to add reveals through RSS if a podcaster did make a present accessible in Google Podcasts.
Google Podcasts kicked off 2021 with a redesigned Now Enjoying display screen after which advice tuning.
The final massive replace got here in August of 2021 to handle usability complaints like a fullscreen Subscriptions web page so that you weren’t beholden to looking reveals with solely a carousel. It took over a yr from the final revamp to handle that exact subject. This was a part of the brand new Library tab that changed Exercise. This revamp solely launched on Android and by no means made its option to iOS.
Shortly after that, Google Podcasts acquired a Materials You redesign with Dynamic Coloration on Android, in addition to a dual-column pill structure.
The lengthy goodbye
After September of 2021, characteristic growth on Google Podcasts successfully stopped because it emerged a month later that YouTube was seeking to enhance its personal podcasts expertise.
In the beginning of 2023, Google Search stopped exhibiting particular person episodes in outcomes, and changed that performance with a generic podcast listing that linked to third-party companies.
In 2023, podcasts in YouTube Music launched and Google introduced final September that Google Podcasts could be shutting down. In December, we acquired the April 2, 2024 deprecation date for the US.
Basically, Google created a easy podcasts app that was straightforward to make use of. Its proximity to Search and the open nature of RSS ought to have sustained the service for the long term.
Nevertheless, video podcasting naturally flourished on YouTube and the corporate determined to consolidate efforts.
On paper, YouTube is a greater house for media and content-related efforts than Google correct. For instance, the transfer allowed a first-party podcasts resolution to exist on Put on OS courtesy of the prevailing YTM app.
That stated, I discover it ridiculous that YouTube Music launched and has existed for over a yr with out podcasting fundamentals like mark as performed (which is coming) and new episode notifications. Google Podcasts delivered blazing quick alerts, whereas having to manually drag the scrubber to clear one thing from the “New Episodes” playlist is a preposterous hack. Trying on the panorama, YouTube Podcasts wants reside lyrics-esque transcripts, whereas chapter assist could be good.
From an finish person perspective, YouTube Music won’t ever be as easy to make use of as Google Podcasts. That being stated, individuals — and possibly even the bulk — are tremendous with music and podcasts coexisting in a single software. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t say that it’s been a great begin to the migration.
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